


I Want to Believe

by ImyourCardiganAngel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Detective Story, Keith is obvi Mulder, Lance and Keith are FBI agents, Lance is having none of that alien crap, M/M, X-Files Inspired, don't need to have seen the show to understand tho, just really like the dynamic of Mulder and Scully for Klance, like I said a detective story, loosely based off the first episode of X-Files
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-05-07 17:09:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 36,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14675670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImyourCardiganAngel/pseuds/ImyourCardiganAngel
Summary: Keith 'Kooky' Kogane is an outcast in the FBI, deemed crazy by everyone since he claims his brother was abducted by aliens.Lance McClain is one of the most popular agents, who has worked hard to earn the reputation he has. So, how do you think he feels when he's told he is going to be working with Kooky Kogane for who knows how long.These agents seem to be on opposite sides of the spectrum, a believer of the impossible and a believer of the facts, but this unlikely pairing can help each other more than they think.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! Recently started watching X-Files (the old ones, not recent ones) and the parallels between Mulder and Keith inspired me to write this. It was really fun weaving bits of Voltron into the X-Files universe, but if you haven't seen X-Files, no worries! It'll just seem like a 'regular' sci-fi detective story!  
> Hope you enjoy!

 

Lance tapped his foot anxiously, the sound muffled by the old carpet, but still loud in the empty room. He fiddled with his FBI badge, mind thinking about why he could have possibly been summoned to the Head’s office. Maybe Nyma actually did report him for his blatant flirting, but she knew he was only playing, and he thought she had been playing as well when she threatened to report him. Maybe it was Rolo, he seemed pissed enough after Lance accidentally spilled coffee down the front of his new suit to fabricate some story that would get Lance a scolding. Lance smoothed out the jacket of his suit, as if that would smooth his nerves, and tugged at his cuffs while frowning at his thoughts. Maybe he’s just being Negative Nancy and this meeting is to congratulate him on his recent successes. Lance liked to think he was a good agent, he worked hard on every case he received, but that didn’t stop his nerves from filling his head with improbable scenarios. His thoughts were interrupted as the door across from him swung open noiselessly. 

“Agent Lance McClain,” Iverson appeared in the door, and Lance quickly stood and followed him into his office. It was a rather plain room filled with books, awards, and the occasional plant. He sat down stoically at his desk, hands clasped before him. He began speaking before Lance even sat down. “I have asked you here today because I am assigning you on a special mission.” 

Lance sat up straighter in his seat, his nerves forgotten. “I like that sound of that, sir. I will not disappoint.” 

“I know. You’re a good agent, McClain,” Iverson said, pulling out a folder and handing it over to Lance. “Which is why we, the Bureau that is, has chosen you to work with Agent Kogane.”

“Keith Kogane, who’s as mad as a fox?  _ Kooky  _ Kogane?! You’re partnering me with  _ him?! _ ” Lance cried out, pausing his examination of the folder, which held numerous photos of Kogane and others he didn’t recognize except for Takashi Shirogane, along with some of Kogane’s personal writings. “But, sir-”

“Agent McClain,” Iverson sternly cut him off. “Kogane has developed a consuming devotion to figuring out what happened to his brother. Are you familiar with the incident?” Lance nodded, eyes locked onto Iverson’s stony expression. “The reason you’re here is to assist Kogane on this ‘project,’ learn everything about him. I want you to make observations on the validity of his work, and send the Bureau field reports on your findings.”

Lance let the information settle, then cocked his head. “Sir, am I to debunk his claims?” 

“In a sense, but more importantly, Kogane’s father had access to Top Secret information, and we need to find out what Keith Kogane knows. This is a matter of national security.” Iverson stood then, hands clasped behind his back. “Like I already said, you are a fine agent, and I have no doubts you will not let us down. So, prove me right, McClain.”

“Of course, sir.” Lance sheepishly stood as well, tucking the folder under his arm as he exited the room. He still didn’t like this, it was too vague and left him feeling unsure, but if Iverson assured him this was important, he was going to put everything towards completing this mission. 

That night he sat down and started going through the folder, a small desk lamp his only source of light so he wouldn’t disturb Hunk, a fellow agent and his roommate, who’s soft snoring drifted out of his cracked door. The recent case he had worked with fellow agent Shay Bal’ Mera had kept him up all night the previous night. This left Lance to his thoughts and this picture of Kogane, which he held up with a smirk.

“We’re about to become best friends, Kooky Kogane,” Lance smirked.

 

The only sound that filled Keith’s assigned office was his furious clicking and typing, eyes glued to the computer screen. He would occasionally glance down at the document splayed before him, fingers continuing to copy the words he read into the email. A knock on his door sounded, then the knob jiggled, and before the door was even open his computer screen was blank and the document was replaced into a drawer, which he kicked closed as he sat back in his chair and brought his ankle up into his knee, adopting a lackadaisical pose. He even closed his eyes for good measure.

“Sleeping on the job,  _ Kogane _ ,” the voice that met his ears was snarky and slightly bitter. 

He opened one eye, unbothered by the tone, even expecting it by now. What he hadn’t been expecting was one the most popular agents, Agent McClain, to be standing before him, one hip cocked and a smirk on his face.

“Who are you?” He feigned ignorance, letting his eye fall shut once more, trying not to smile at the squawk the other released.

“Who am I?!” Lance exclaimed, voice pitching higher. “Only the best agent to graduate from Garrison Academy!”

“Oh, you went there too? I don’t remember you,” Keith said nonchalantly.

“How can you-  _ listen _ , Kooky Kogane! I don’t want to be here as much as you don’t want me here, but I’ve been assigned, er, partnered up with you for some godforsaken reason, and you best get used to having me around,” Lance spat, then recollected himself, running a hand through his hair. “And I’m told I am quite a joy to be around, so consider yourself lucky.”

“Wait, you were partnered with me?” Keith sat up, planting both feet on the ground, a crooked smile catching his lips. “Oh, man, what’d you do to get thrown in the pig stye with me?” Keith couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore. Pretty boy McClain,  _ Perfect Agent McClain _ had been partnered up with him, the crazy one everyone kept their distance from. Not that Keith cared, he preferred that actually since it meant he had time to focus on his own interests.

Lance stared at him with a deep frown, his crossed arms looking more like he was hugging himself, an unsure look in his eyes.

“Look, I didn’t do anything, and everyone knows that. I guess they were just hoping you’d learn a few things from me,” he snapped.

“I thought you were sent to spy on me.” Keith eyed Lance up and down knowingly.

Lance sighed loudly, trying to keep his cool. “Whatever dude, we both don’t have a choice, so let’s just work with what we’ve got.”

“And what do we have, exactly?”

“Well, this murder board looks pretty interesting,” Lance mused, crossing the room to peer at the corkboard hanging on the wall, clippings of information amassed with maps and photographs pinned to the board, red string connecting it all. 

“It’s not a murder board,” Keith growled, eyes scanning Lance’s face for a reaction to what he saw, but he was surprisingly neutral.

“You know this looks straight out of a cop drama, right?” Lance chuckled, frowning disapprovingly at Keith’s blank stare. “Dude, what have you been doing with your life?”

“Trying to find my brother,” Keith snapped, turning back to face his computer, missing the way Lance flinched.

Silence stretched, and Keith thought Agent McClain had finally made a run for it, but then his voice pierced the silence once more.

“Cute.” 

Keith glanced up, barely biting off a groan, to see Lance smiling at his ‘I Want To Believe’ poster, and scowled. “Are you mocking me?”

“What? No!” Lance’s gaze flicked to Keith. “I’m just trying to break the ice, you’re not really giving me much to start with.”

“There’s not much you don’t already know,” Keith shot back, knowing full well the extent of the rumors that surrounded him.

“Yeah, but, I like to get my information from the source,” Lance settled on the corner of his desk, crossing his arms and peering down expectantly at Keith, who was refusing to make eye contact. Silence fell between them, only the occasional clicking from Keith sounding. Lance continued to burn a hole in Keith’s head.

_ He’s got a freaking mullet! _ Lance realized, blinking rapidly and slightly shaking his head to make sure he was seeing things right.  _ This guy really is all kinds of freaky. _

“Do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?” Keith said suddenly, sending a spike of adrenaline through Lance, not expecting the sudden break in silence. He glared at Keith, who’s gaze was still fixed on the computer screen, though they were now unfocused.

“Logically, I would have to say no,” Lance shrugged, regaining his wits. “Considering the distances needed to travel from the far reaches of space, which are infinite, the energy requirements would exceed a spacecraft’s capabilities, the Garrison has proven that much.”

“You know nothing about the Garrison, only what they want you to know,” Keith spat with surprising venom.

Lance blinked. “And what do you know?”

The question seemed to bring Keith back to the present, and he glanced at Lance. “Nothing. They keep everything hidden well.”

“And what would they need to hide?” Lance pressed, unconsciously leaning forwards.

Instead of answering, Keith spun back towards the corkboard, smoothly standing. “Are you educated in psychology, Agent McClain?” 

The shift was so sudden Lance actually lost his balance, but luckily caught himself before he could faceplant on Keith’s desk. He glared at the back of Keith’s head; perhaps this was going to be a regular occurence. All glaring, no talking, that was their motto now.

“Acquainted well enough,” Lance replied.

“Good. I’ve got three cases of memory loss,” Keith said, pointing to pictures of three people- a man, a woman, and a teenager. “And the only connection between them is the location where they were found wandering without any idea how they got there.”

“And where’s that?” Lance said, deciding to roll with the sudden change.

“Here.” Keith pointed to a point circled on the map. Lance stepped closer to examine the spot.

“But, it’s just desert?” Lance squinted, tongue poking his upper lip as he thought. “Do any of them remember where they were  _ before  _ this occurrence?”

“Up to a certain point, then they just blank. But the friends of the teenager said he was biking home, leaving his friend’s house here,” Keith pointed to a point on the map marked by a push-pin. “And he was heading along this road.” He traced a highlighted route with a finger.

It wasn’t exactly far from the point the kid was later found, but it wasn’t close either. He would have had to take a detour of five miles to arrive at where he had been found. How someone could forget that trip was baffling. 

“So, how did they get way out there with no memory of going there in the first place?”

“Exactly,” Keith smirked. “Now, you’re thinking, McClain.”

“You mentioned psychology. Do you think they could have repressed the memory for some reason?” Lance mused, finger tapping his chin.

“Don’t know,” Keith shrugged. “What I do know, is none of them have a record of previous psychosis or other psychological afflictions.” 

“Okay,” Lance processed the facts for a moment, trying to procure possible scenarios. “Have any of them been to this point before they just appeared there?”

“They knew of it, the rock formations there are a popular hangout for rock climbers, but none of them have been there personally.” Keith was playing with a pen in his hands, capping and uncapping it repeatedly as he watched the gears behind Lance’s mind work. It was fascinating how the seemingly carefree agent could become so serious, like someone had flipped a switch. 

“I see you’re struggling to find a logical explanation,” Keith smirked, and Lance’s blood boiled.

“There’s a logical explanation for everything, you just have to know where to look,” Lance sniffed.

“Perhaps we have to look into more...paranormal explanations,” Keith said, looking not-so-innocently at Lance, his smug smile infuriating as he sat back in his chair like he’d just beat Lance at a game of chess.

“Nuh-uh, no way, no no no. There are no explanations beyond the realm of science. The answers are here, we just have to investigate further.” Lance stomped his foot and firmly crossed his arms, refusing to catch Keith’s crazy. 

“Be my guest,” Keith said, smug smile falling. “Where do you want to start?”

“Take me to the spot these people were found. The exact spot.”

“How about tomorrow, Agent? I’ve got...other plans today.”

Lance pouted and crossed his arms. “Aw, come on, mullet.  _ You  _ have plans?”

“Yes,” Keith said bluntly, and Lance’s playfulness dropped. Keith’s defensive tone was clear, so Lance would leave him alone, this time.

“Fine, tomorrow. Noon sharp?”

“I usually sleep until then. How about 2?” Keith said simply.

“Wow, that sounds like the life,” Lance rolled his eyes. “But fine, 2.”

He picked up a pen and a sticky note, writing down his address and phone number, handing it to Keith, who looked at it in confusion.

“So, you can pick me up tomorrow and contact me if you can’t find it for some reason,” Lance explained. “My roommate already called dibs on the car tomorrow, so you’re going to have to chauffeur. Is that cool?”

“Yeah.” 

“Oh, and be careful with that,” Lance pointed at the sticky note, and Keith’s eyebrows rose as he waited for Lance to continue. “I know a lot of people who would pay a pretty penny for it.” Lance smiled wide and winked.

Keith only rolled his eyes and stuck the note on his computer. “Goodbye, Agent McClain.”

 

Keith pulled up at two o’clock sharp, his car a beat up black thing that puffed out more smoke than a poorly-built campfire, and ungracefully took to the bumps in the road. Lance grimaced as they hit another pothole, gripping the handle secured to the roof as if that would ease his stress. It was also notable to mention that Keith was a fast driver which didn’t help with his suspension problem, in fact, Lance was sure that was a result of his reckless driving. The next bump triggered the radio, music blasting out suddenly and causing Lance to yelp, clapping his hands over his ears. Keith hit the breaks, and flung open his door, Lance scrambling after him, relieved at the fresh air, but very much confused. So many of his senses had just been assaulted, leaving his mind reeling. He watched in confusion as Keith threw open his trunk, retrieving a can of spray pain and marking the road with an ‘X.’ Then he tossed the can back, slammed the trunk closed- a few times until it finally took- and climbed back into the car without a word. Lance shook his head then climbed into his own seat, staring at Keith who carried on like this was a normal occurrence. 

“What the hell, man?” Lance finally said when it became obvious Keith wasn’t going to explain his actions. “What was that all about?”

“Nothing, just the radio being glitchy,” Keith shrugged.

Lance narrowed his eyes. “Fine, don’t tell me,” he pouted, sinking into his seat with his arms crossed. He kept shooting Keith side-glances until the man finally broke, sighing through his nose.

“We’re driving on the same route the boy was taking to get home that night,” Keith said, eyes continuing to stare ahead. “I just thought maybe whatever just happened could be significant, so I marked it. If it turns out to be nothing, then no harm done.”

“See, was that so hard?” Lance smiled, picking himself back up.

Keith rolled his eyes, but the corner of his lip quirked. He sped up and Lance yelped as he was thrown against his chair, yelling facts about the percentage of deaths in car accidents and how Keith was ‘driving like the crazy person he is.’ After that, the rest of the drive passed in silence, until tires met the crunch of dirt, announcing their arrival. Keith threw his car into park, and the two agents climbed out.

Lance scanned the area, which looked exactly how he expected. An array of reds and oranges and browns made up the irregular expanse of rock and dirt. In the distance, a mountain range could be seen, and Lance traced its ups and downs with his eyes, an easy smile settling on his face. There was a certain peacefulness about this place, which was unexpected. Lance had been expecting some odd vibes to be radiating out here if this was where people who’s memories were scrambled were found. 

“It’s a beautiful day,” Lance commented, smiling up at the subtle oranges and pinks beginning to bleed into the sky. “A bit hot if I have any complaint,” Lance added, tugging at the collar of his suit, loosening his tie and throwing it with his jacket back into the car. He rolled his sleeves up as well.

“Can’t take the heat, McClain?” Keith replied, shedding his own jacket as well, and pulling his hair back.

“‘Course I can. I’ve got Cuban blood in my veins,” Lance smirked at Keith over the top of his car. “Lead the way, agent.” Lance slipped on his sunglasses as he fell into step beside Keith, conversation falling silent once more as they gazed towards the horizon.

A pro of being in the middle of nowhere was that you could see anything coming from any direction, the problem with the middle of nowhere was there was literally nothing to keep an energetic brain like Lance McClain’s active, and he quickly became bored.

“Sooo,” Lance drawled, rubbing the back of his neck, grimacing at the sweat collecting there.

Keith glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. “So?”

“Are you capable of small talk?” Lance turned to him, a little exasperated.

Keith scrunched his nose. “I find it unnecessary.”

“Well, I find it very necessary to keep my brain from falling asleep!”

“That’s not my problem,” Keith grunted.

Lance gasped dramatically and put a hand over his heart. “Partners are supposed to have each others’ backs, help each other out in times of need!”

“Are you always this dramatic?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

“I’ll have you know-”

“Doesn’t matter, we’re here.” Keith waved Lance’s comment away, a little too eagerly in Lance’s opinion, and lifted some police tape tied to four posts that surrounded the area, and pointed down to another ‘X’ on the ground, like the one Keith had just marked in the road. 

Lance turned in a full circle, but spied nothing out of the ordinary. He stood there, finger tapping his chin, as he thought, taking in every detail- a lizard soaking up the sun’s rays, an odd rock formation that looked kind of like a jagged heart, and not a cloud in the sky- then he sighed. Keith was watching him silently, a neutral expression on his face. But Lance refused to give up, so he crouched on the ground, searching for anything. If the people were kidnapped and brought here, maybe an unfamiliar set of footprints were present. Lance’s fingertips brushed over the ground, following his gaze. His nose scrunched up when his eye caught blackened rock, and he leaned forward, knees dropping to the ground. Lance brushed away some dust that was obscuring the blackness, and his eyes widened. 

“Hey,” Lance snapped his fingers to get Keith’s attention, who immediately crouched down before him, already catching sight of what Lance was referring to.

“Looks like scorch marks,” Keith commented, then began helping Lance clear the dust away.

“It’s not uncommon for people to camp out here, right?”

“No, pretty popular actually. This is a great spot to watch the sky for UFOs.” Lance scoffed and glanced up to see Keith smirking at him.

“Take me out to dinner first, then maybe you can convince me to sit out here all night with you awaiting the arrival of our conquerors,” Lance retorted. Keith’s face twisted like he wanted to say something, but decided to forgo it. 

“Well, I’m not sure a normal campfire could cause this,” Keith said, stepping back and dusting his hands off. Lance did the same.

Lance’s breath hitched when it became clear that this wasn’t just regular scorch marks, instead the black lines formed a ring around the ‘X,’ which was slightly off-center. And the lines wove in and out of each other elegantly, nothing a simple fire could have created. It was actually kind of beautiful. 

“Wow, whoever did this deserves some recognition. This is impressive and must have taken all night. What do you think they used? A really hot stick? Or maybe a tiny lighter? Those lines are sharp!” Lance prattled as theories came to mind.

Keith crouched down once more, running his fingers along the edge of a line. “I don’t think a lighter or a stick could do this, look.” Lance crouched down again. “If it was a stick, we would see some shallow scratch marks, and if it was a lighter, our hands would come off black with residue.” Keith raised his hands to show his skin was clear, except for a small layer of brown dust, which was everywhere out here.

Lance ran his own hand over the markings, tongue poking his upper lip as he thought. “You’re right. And it feels like the rock was actually burned away, if that’s even possible. There’s a slight dip to the black lines.”

“Exactly,” Keith smiled eagerly, eyes alight as he thought of what this could mean. Lance matched his enthusiasm. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this! I have to get a picture to show Hunk, he might be able to tell us what this is.”

“I’ll take one too and send it to my own source,” Keith added, snapping a photo beside Lance.  

“And who’s your source? Some sketchy alien website, because I know you are thinking this was cause by aliens, like those...those crap circles.”

“Crop circles,” Keith corrected monotonously.

“Yeah! See, you do go on those alien websites!” Lance smirked, leaning in close to Keith and giving him a smug look.

“Yes, Lance I do. But, it’s not because I run some blog like you’re probably thinking.” Lance retreated with a frown. “Just because I entertain the idea that aliens exist, I’m not automatically a mindless conspiracy theorist like everyone already thinks I am.” Keith growled, mouth twisted bitterly, and his eyes clouded over like a brewing storm.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t calling you a conspiracy theorist,” Lance frowned. “I don’t think you’re-”

“Save it,” Keith cut him off. “I don’t care what others think of me.”

Lance fell quiet, replacing his phone in his pocket. “Well, if you’ve got what you need…,” Lance gestured with a hand back towards the car.

Keith clicked off his own phone. “Yeah, let’s go.” Keith took the lead, and the pair trudged back in silence.

Lance wasn’t bored this time though, his mind had plenty to think about with this new piece of evidence and new information about Keith. And which was he focusing on right now? Keith. Keith thought Lance looked at him like everyone else did, a crazy theorist whose head was in the stars, and for some reason that bothered Lance. It shouldn’t, since that’s exactly how Lance thought of him at first, but now actually working with him, seeing him act and think instead of immediately jumping to the explanation of ‘aliens’ for everything like he thought Keith would, was making him rethink his perception. Keith was observant, and he was smart; that was immediately obvious to Lance. Keith also checked the facts for himself before coming to a conclusion, whether that’d be scientific or paranormal. And that seemed to be the only difference Keith had with Lance himself, his openness to impossible explanations. Keith still took his cases seriously, working at it with everything he had despite the Bureau’s lack of faith in him. And for some reason, Lance’s heart sunk at that. Keith didn’t deserve the bias he was shown.

Sure, Keith Kogane was infuriating, and could get under Lance’s skin with one teasing prod, but he had a level head. Sure, he believed in aliens, but everyone had their reasons, and for some reason Lance wanted to understand Keith’s. He just had to understand the mystery of Keith Kogane first. Which was going to be hard with Keith’s loner persona he’s got going on, but with Agent Lance McClain on the case, anything can be done. 

“You going to get in?” Keith’s voice rang through his thoughts, and Lance blinked to see Keith already in the car, leaning across and peering up at Lance with a raised brow.

“Right.” Lance quickly pulled open the door and ducked inside. 

Lance tried to start up a conversation about music types, but Keith only turned up the radio, though Lance didn’t miss the way he mouthed the lyrics almost defiantly.  _ If that’s how it’s going to be _ , Lance smirked, flipping to a clean page on his notepad and jotted down the name of the song, or what he thought the name of the song was. He titled the page ‘What I Know About Keith,’ and closed it before Keith could catch sight of it. 

“Where do you live again?” Keith asked, then rolled his eyes when he saw Lance wiggle his eyebrows. “I was going to drop you off, but since you’re acting that way…”

“Keith, no! Please, I was kidding,” Lance pleaded, sticking out his bottom lip.

“Fine,” Keith sighed, but the corner of his mouth quirked.

“Yes! Just take the next right,” Lance cheered. “You should start memorizing the route to my house if we’re going to be partners, you know.” 

“I’ll add it to my To-Do list,” Keith said.

By the time they pulled in front of Lance’s apartment complex, the tense atmosphere inside the car had dissipated. 

“Wait,” Lance said before exiting the car. “You have my number, but how am I going to get ahold of you?”

Keith blinked, then reached over and pulled out a notepad and pen, scribbling down his phone number before tearing it off and handing it over to Lance.

“Thanks man,” Lance saluted, the paper held between the two fingers, and shut the door.

“You know, I don’t just give that out to anybody,” Keith said, pointing to the piece of paper, then he smirked and drove off.

Lance watched the car retreat in a daze. Keith Kogane had just made a joke, a  _ flirty  _ joke. Lance’s mouth was dry, and he couldn’t believe a taste of his own medicine could paralyze him like so. He shook his head and headed inside, a small smile on his face as he thought,  _ Kogane is definitely going to be a hard case to crack _ .

Hunk greeted him with his usual cheery tone, trying to subtly move away from the window he had been clearly staring out of. Lance didn’t mention it though, the big guy was naturally curious, as anyone would be about the elusive Keith Kogane. 

Then a delicious smell hit Lance’s nose and all thoughts of the case vanished, and his stomach grumbled. Hunk laughed and they ate their dinner together, as usual, making jokes and faces, trying to get the other to spit out their soup. Hunk won, as usual. He was better at containing his laughter than Lance, who complained of course, but didn’t mean a word he said, and Hunk knew that.

Lance and Hunk had known each other since their first year in the academy, where Hunk’s size and Lance’s scrawniness got them labeled as outcasts who would only last a year or two. Naturally, the two teamed up, quickly becoming inseparable, and eventually became the team to beat, passing their courses in record time thanks to their impeccable teamwork. Lance could still remember the faces of their classmates when they graduated at the top of their class. 

“So, how’s your case with Kogane going?” Hunk’s voice brought him out of his reverie.

Lance glanced up at his friend, who was washing dishes at the sink, blinking away the last of the memory. Hunk knew all the details of his partnership with Keith, and what was expected of him- the reports to the Bureau- which was a weight lifted off of Lance’s shoulders knowing he had someone to talk to about this. Lance didn’t like going behind people’s backs, and he especially didn’t like it now that he saw Keith was a decent person, not just a flat, poorly constructed mental image he had had in mind during his briefing.

“It’s actually really interesting. Kogane took me to the place where people appeared with no memory of how they got there. The whole thing just doesn’t make sense yet, but once we find that specific piece, everything will click together,” Lance explained confidently.

“Uh huh, that’s how it always goes. And how’s Kogane?” Lance scrunched his nose at the question, unsure how to answer it, but Hunk took it as something else. “That bad, huh?”

“No, it’s just an odd question because i’m not really sure yet. He’s not at all what I expected, but also kind of what I was expecting, you know? He’s closed off and can get defensive very quickly, but he can also take a joke. He didn’t seem offended by my flirting, instead he just rolled with it, which is a good sign, I think?”

“Oh yeah, anyone who can handle your flirting is a good match for you,” Hunk chimed in.

“Hey! But, okay, you’ve got a point. And yes, he does believe in the existence of extraterrestrials, but he’s not the crazy conspirator that everyone makes him out to be. He’s smart, thinks first and then makes up his mind; wants to see all the facts for himself. He definitely has trust issues, though, I guess it’s justified if you work alone all the time and are despised by everyone around you, even your superiors.”

“Sounds like this guy needs a friend,” Hunk shook his head sadly, replacing the now-clean bowls back in their cabinets. 

“Don’t worry, Lance McClain is on the case!” Lance declared dramatically, puffing his chest out like a superhero, earning a chuckle from Hunk.

“He seems like a timid guy, so just don’t go all out on him, Lance. You might scare him off.”

Lance gasped, “I would never!” 

“It’s happened before, dude,” Hunk chuckled softly.

The two moved to the living room, chatting as they flipped through the channels to find something to watch. Lance wasn’t surprised when Hunk settled on  _ Chopped _ . It was one of the only shows they watched regularly. 

“Why don’t you go on there, buddy? You’d dominate.” Lance said, smacking his shoulder lightly.

“Yeah, I would. Maybe in the future, when work isn’t quite so demanding.”

They watched in silence, both shaking their heads when a contestant forgot a basket ingredient in their dish, then nodded knowingly when they were then eliminated. In the final round, the pair were on the edge of the couch as the clock counted down and one contestant was struggling to plate their dish. They made it just in time, albeit their presentation was messy. 

“Oh!” Lance said suddenly, startling Hunk. “I have to show you this picture of what Kogane and I found today, see what you think.”

Lance pulled out his cellphone and opened his photos, peering at the picture for a moment, as if confirming they had really seen this today, then handed it over to Hunk. Hunk stared at it for a while, zooming in and out, eyes narrowed and focused.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” he muttered. “Were these marks burned into the rock?”

“Yeah, so much so they burned away the rock! It wasn’t just on the surface, and no ash came off on our fingertips. It was like it was a part of the rock itself.”

“Interesting,” Hunk mused, then handed the phone back. “You should definitely look into it some more. I can’t think of an explanation at this point.”

“Yeah, I figured. I’ll keep you updated.”

They passed the rest of the night enjoying each other’s company, until both of them passed out on the couch with  _ Chopped  _ still playing late into the night.

 

Keith was at his computer screen, his nose almost touching it as he read the words on the screen, when Lance barged into his office. Keith jerked and hit his head on the computer; he was going to have to get used to having a partner that just barges in whenever they wanted. He rubbed his forehead and glared at Lance.

“Whoa, late night?” Lance paused, examining Keith’s unkempt hair and the bags under his eyes.

“You could say that, considering I didn’t even go to sleep.”

“Dude, everyone needs their beauty sleep, you especially! I can’t have a partner who doesn’t take care of himself, makes me look bad,” Lance chided him, his voice sounding ever-sarcastic.

Keith just grunted and turned back to his computer, blinking until the words weren’t blurry anymore.

“So, what did you find that was so interesting you forewent sleep to read about it?” Lance appeared behind Keith, bending down to look over his shoulder, but Keith minimized the window and turned towards a frowning Lance. “Come on, Mullet! You’ve been doing this all week, never sharing anything you find. We’re partners, and the sooner you realize that the quicker we can solve this case!”

“Well, I didn’t ask for a partner, okay!” Keith yelled, his frustration and exhaustion pushing him over the edge. “I don’t need a partner! The sooner you realize  _ that _ , the sooner you’ll understand that you are useless to this investigation! I’ve got it handled.”

“Oh,” Lance’s voice was small, and Keith glanced up through his bangs to see Lance’s tight expression. “I see.” He bit his lip as if to keep it from wobbling, and glared unblinking at the ground. “I guess we’ll see who solves the case first then, who the better agent is,” Lance said coldly, then spun on his heels and slammed the door closed.

Keith dropped his head onto his desk.  _ Way to go, Kogane, you just scared away the only person who actually held a conversation with you and didn’t look at you like you are crazy! _ Keith groaned, long and loud, then shook his head and returned to his work, more determined than before.

His outside source, someone who could get him any information he needed without questions asked, had sent him a classified report documenting similar happenings in three other towns, though no cases as recently as the one Keith was currently investigating. Why it was classified, Keith wasn’t sure. It only made him more suspicious about government affairs.

Keith read until he could no longer keep his eyelids from closing any longer. He fell asleep on his keyboard, and thankfully no dreams of the incident came to haunt him.

Keith jerked awake when the shrill ring of his phone echoed in his dark room. He glanced at his analog clock, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. It was late, dusk had probably already fallen. He grumbled when he felt the indentation of his keyboard on his cheek, but another shrill ring snapped him to attention. He snatched up his phone and answered it with a simple hello.

“Keith? Keith Kogane?” Came a nervous voice.

“Yes.”

“This Hunk Garrett, Lance McClain’s roommate.” Keith sighed, figuring he was about to get chewed out. “Lance left the office early today, and I had to get a ride home, which wasn’t hard, er, but that’s not the point. He hasn’t come home yet, and he’s been silent all day- which Lance and silent don’t mix, as you have probably realized,” Hunk chuckled weakly. “Sorry, i’m rambling. I do that when I’m nervous. Anyways, I was just wondering if you know where he is?”

“What?” Keith was dazed, Hunk had spoken so fast and his mind was lagging behind a bit. “No...no, he’s not with me. I haven’t seen him since this morning. We, uh, we kinda had an argument, and he said-” Keith trailed off. “I think I know where he is Hunk. I’ll get back to you.”

Keith hurriedly ended the call, and threw on his jacket, locking his door before rushing to his car. Once he was within a mile of the portal, as Lance has been jokingly calling the odd ring scorched into rock, his radio malfunctioned again, and Keith grit his teeth against the white noise that seemed more erratic than last time, his headlights even flickered a couple of times, but Keith only pushed his car faster. When he arrived, he forcefully threw the car into park, noticing Lance’s car was also here, and jumped out, running towards the circle. 

Something was off, the air felt electrified and an odd blue glow was on the horizon. His legs felt like jello by the time he reached his destination, and he skidded to a stop with a gasp as he saw Lance standing at the center of the ring, glowing turquoise lines slowly tracing the black lines on the ground, an unexplainable wind contained within the ring rustling Lance’s hair and jacket.

“Lance!” Keith called, confused as to why Lance was just standing there, eyes closed and seemingly oblivious to the light. “Lance!” He tried again, but Lance still didn’t respond.

Keith watched as the turquoise lines completed their routes, and the ground beneath Lance began to glow as well, moving in a way that reminded Keith of water. He lunged for Lance, but an invisible barrier kept him back, and he could only watch as Lance fell through the ground, disappearing with the light.

Silence was the only thing that met Keith’s ears as he stared at the spot where Lance had been standing. This feeling inside of him all too familiar. It was happening all over again; everyone he grew close to- meaning people he was or wanted to be friends with- disappeared. Keith struggled to control his breathing, sinking to the ground as it used too much energy to remain standing.  _ It’s happening again! _ Keith wanted to scream, pull his hair, but he refrained, only one thought repeating in his mind. The other people were brought back to this place, so maybe Lance would be returned as well.

Keith waited, eyes never moving from the ring, which looked like it had darkened. So, this was what burned those lines into the rock, but what exactly was  _ this _ . When the air grew cool, he tucked his knees under his chin, but didn’t dare leave to retrieve the blanket he had in his car in fear of missing Lance. He couldn’t help feeling responsible for this, his snapping had caused Lance to stake out on his own. He didn’t mean to snap, didn’t mean the words he uttered, he was just frustrated and he regretted it. Lance has been making an effort to get to know Keith; he wasn’t put off by Keith’s snarky comments, instead replying with one of his own. He didn’t want to admit it, but Lance had grown on him this past week. At first, Keith hated him and his obnoxious personality, but Keith realizes now it’s just a front. 

Keith sighed and fell onto his back, staring up at the stars. His father had known every constellation in the sky, and Keith tried to recall them. He managed to find the big dipper, the North Star, Orion, and a few others before his mind became too loud to focus. It was like the white noise of the radio was filling his head again.

Then the blue light returned and Keith shot upright, eagerly watching the ring. A blinding flash of light forced Keith to close his eyes, and when he reopened them everything was back to normal, and Lance was curled up at the center of the ring. Keith scrambled over to him, noticing blue marks fading under Lance’s eyes, but ignored them for now. He grabbed Lance’s wrist, grimacing at how cold he felt, and checked his pulse, which was elevated slightly, but otherwise alright. Keith smacked his cheek lightly, hoping to wake him.

“Lance,” he said softly. “Lance, wake up.”

Lance’s eyelids twitched, and then his nose scrunched up. Keith breathed a sigh of relief, and sat back on his haunches as Lance’s eyes blinked open. 

“Wha- Keith?!” Lance said, sitting upright but then closing his eyes tightly when dizziness overcame him.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Keith said, placing his hands on Lance’s shoulders to steady his swaying.

“Why are you here?”

“Because I got a worried call from Hunk saying you were M.I.A,” Keith smirked.

“And how’d you know I was here?” Lance rubbed his temples, but his eyes were clearing.

“He said you hadn’t contacted him all day, and I made the inference that was because you couldn’t,” Keith held up his phone. “No service out here.” Lance looked at him blankly. “And you kind of implied you were going to solve this case by yourself after I snapped at you,” Keith added sheepishly. “So, where else would you be, but where our biggest piece of evidence is.”

“Oh.” Was all Lance said.

“I’m sorry,” Keith said quietly. “For snapping at you. I didn’t mean anything I said, I was just frustrated and exhausted, and you just came a little too hard for me to handle at the moment, which is why I handled it so poorly. Not that you could have known that-”

“Keith, it’s fine.” Lance cut him off, and the two fell into a heavy silence, each contemplating a flurry of thoughts. Eventually, Keith asked the question that was burning a hole in him.

“So?” Keith inquired, looking at him expectantly, but also with concealed concern.

“So?” Lance said blankly.

“What the hell just happened?! I pull up and you’re at the center of the ring, which was glowing blue, and then you just disappeared down the rabbit hole!” 

“I don’t remember any of that,” Lance said, eyes going distant as he retreated into his thoughts. “I only remember images, the color blue, piercing yellow eyes, and a girl with white hair.” 

“Well, that’s more than what the other people remember,” Keith said, trying to piece together the meaning behind these images, but coming up empty.

“You think this happened to the other people?”

“For sure. After you disappeared, the scorch mark was darker, like it was burned in again.” Keith nodded, then noticed Lance shaking. “Are you okay?”

“Great, peachy, dandy! Why wouldn’t I be?” Lance said a little too cheerily. “It’s just freaking freezing out here and I feel like i’m in some sci-fi movie!”

“Come on, I have a blanket in my car you can use.” 

Keith led the way back to his car, the walk slow and steady, and once Lance was warmed up, Keith reminded him to call Hunk, who was probably frantic after his cryptic conversation with Keith. Then he drove Lance home, promising to drop Lance off tomorrow morning to retrieve his car.

It wasn’t until Keith got home and collapsed into bed did he realize how relieved and exhausted he was. Lance was perfectly okay, shaken, but Hunk was there for him now. Hunk had caught Lance up in a crushing hug when Keith had returned him, and had promised to bake Keith a batch of his special chocolate chip chunk brownies as a thank you. He couldn’t help the pang of jealousy over having a friendship like that though. It was similar to what he had with Shiro, but that was now gone. Soon, exhaustion slurred his thoughts, and he let sleep take him. He was met with a nightmare from his past, but this time, it included Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do not worry, the others will be making an appearance soon! Hope you're liking it so far! Love hearing from you guys, so any feedback will be met with a warm reply!


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo, chapter two! Thank you to everyone who had such kind things to say, like, wow! So glad you guys enjoyed this! I wasn't really expecting that many people to read it because I don't really hear people talking about X-Files too much anymore, but maybe that's just my life. Anyways, I can't promise updates will always be this fast, but I've been inspired to write this, so here it is...enjoy!

Lance sat stiffly across from Iverson, his head still spinning with the event that transpired two nights ago, but he couldn’t let anyone know what had occurred, mainly because Lance wasn’t exactly sure himself. 

“How is your investigation going, Agent McClain?” Iverson said calmly, organizing a folder before him, paying Lance no mind, which he was grateful for at the moment, though previously it would have annoyed him.

“It’s certainly keeping me on my toes,” Lance chuckled weakly, trying to maintain his carefree self and not alert Iverson to his change; however, Iverson is about as observant as a rock wall and just as emotionless, so Lance doubted anything would set his radar off.

“And what exactly does that entail?” Iverson’s voice was dully monotonous.

“I just mean I never know what to expect from Kooky Kogane next, sir,” Lance tried to put some of his condescending tone into his voice like he had used before working with Keith, but it came out a little flat. “Still searching for those aliens though. I’m sure he’ll be having them over for tea any day now.”  _ Okay, that was a little overboard, even for him _ , Lance cringed. He cleared his throat. “We have new leads that Kogane and I will be investigating later today, and we may not have cracked this case yet, but it won’t be long, sir.”

Iverson shut the folder he had been working on- he had just shuffled the papers around- and replaced it without any urgency, then focused intense eyes onto Lance. “And what of Kogane? Does he know anything he shouldn’t?”

Lance fidgeted slightly. “Uh, no? I haven’t found anything out of the ordinary. Sir, I guess I’m just confused as to what kind of information I should be trying to find out if Keith knows, because he knows a lot of things. He’s well rounded in many areas of study, and-”

“You’ll know what you’re looking for when you find it, McClain,” Iverson interrupted him, eyes dull once more. “That will be all.”

Lance swallowed any words on his tongue and nodded silently, leaving the room with his hands clenched at his sides. He stalked down the hallway, ignoring his fellow agents as he retreated into his head, which was a mess at the moment. Iverson’s look of indifference as Lance tried to talk about Keith really bothered him, and while he had more important things to worry about, he just couldn’t shake the idea that Iverson saw Keith as nothing more than a key to unlock something else, easily discarded when he got what he wanted.

Lance barged into Keith’s office to find the man staring silently at the corkboard, the newest addition to it being a picture of the odd ring in the middle of the desert that Keith claimed had abducted Lance. And as crazy as it sounds despite experiencing it for himself, and much to Keith’s frustration, Lance didn’t think that was quite what happened; he was adamant there was a scientific explanation for all of this. Keith could be pissed at him for thinking that all he wanted, but it wasn’t going to change Lance’s mind. 

“Hey,” Lance said to announce his arrival, but Keith didn’t spare him a glance, too focused on whatever he was thinking about, which wasn’t unusual.

“Have you remembered anything else about that night?” Keith asked after a moment, pencil tapping at his chin. Lance was grateful he had stopped calling it an abduction at Lance’s request.

“No,” Lance said curtly. 

He didn’t know why he got so defensive about it, maybe it was just because he doesn’t know what exactly happened yet, and that, maybe, just maybe, scared him. But of course, Agent Lance McClain was never scared, and like his ever-suave self, Lance slid up behind Keith with a smile and glanced at the piece of paper sitting atop Keith’s crossed legs.

“Whatcha got there?” Lance squinted, trying to read the cursive writing and pencil notes on the margin, but Keith closed it before he could piece together a sentence.

“An old letter,” Keith muttered curtly, then had the dignity to look rueful. “Helps me think when I read it,” he offered as further explanation, and Lance settled, noting that Keith was trying to let him in, even if it was happening as slowly as pouring honey out of a jar. 

“Cool,” Lance said absently, turning back to their board to appear busy, worrying on his lip as he instead tried to sort through his still scrambled mind. He only came up frustratingly empty, like every other time. So, he turned to what he knew best, facing the facts. “So, Hunk suggested maybe testing for any sort of drug in my system that could be the cause of last night, and I think it’s our most probable lead.”

“Sure,” Keith said simply, surprising Lance. They’d argued enough times over the two days about what had really happened that Lance was surprised when he was met with no opposition. “I know someone who can perform the test for us.”

Lance’s face twisted in confusion. “Why wouldn’t we just do it here?”

“People would ask too many questions. No one can keep their nose out of other people’s business,” Keith said, spinning in his chair back to his desk and grabbing his phone. He typed out a quick message then stood and gathered his few belongings.

“Good point,” Lance conceded, shivering at the idea of trying to explain to his coworkers why he was testing his blood for this case. “As long as we get some answers.”

“I’m sure these guys will have plenty of answers, but not the ones you’re looking for,” Keith muttered and exited the room, Lance following closely.

Keith drove since only he knew where they were going- something he was very adamant about keeping to himself- and Lance would be lying if he said he didn’t notice Keith’s constant glances to the rearview mirror, or the unnecessary turns, but he didn’t mention it. He’s learned it’s better to let Keith do what he thought had to be done, or else it would just take twice as long since they would only get into an argument. Eventually, they arrived in a small, quiet neighborhood, parking in front of a quaint, but could be considered dilapidated, house. The paint was peeling off on the outside, and a couple shutters were askew. The house looked unlived in, and if it wasn’t for the obvious efforts of upkeeping the garden Lance would think it was abandoned. He followed Keith around the back, entering through a wooden gate. The backyard was larger than Lance thought, and there were rusted parts piled in one corner, as well as some random sculptures from more spare parts scattered around the yard. Lance took them in with raised eyebrows. Then he spotted a portion of the fence was painted in a crude depiction of space and planets and the sun, a big UFO being the main focus; it looked like it had been drawn by a child and was kind of endearing. 

“Did you draw that?” Lance joked.

“Yeah,” Keith said, completely serious and Lance almost tripped in his surprise. “A long time ago though, when I still thought that stuff was a fairytale and not some nightmare.”

Lance stared at the back of Keith’s head, sympathy sprouting in his chest. Lance wasn’t sure what all Keith had been through, but it was obviously traumatic for him. Lance realized he didn’t necessarily want to believe in aliens, but that it was the only explanation to Keith for what happened to his brother. 

Keith rapped an unknown tune on the metal door, a flimsy thing that was more rust than metal. After a few seconds of silence, the tune was repeated and Keith knocked once more before it popped open, a head of wild brown hair squinted into the light. They wore big round glasses that looked almost comical on their petite body.

“Keith Kogane, what brings you to my door this time,” they spoke with a pleased smirk that matched the lilt in their voice. “Oh, and you’ve brought someone new! That’s a surprise.” They nodded their head to the inside of the house, signaling for the pair to follow them inside.

Lance raised an eyebrow at Keith, who only shrugged and entered. Lance sighed, and did so as well, his curiosity peaked. 

“So, are you going to tell me where we are exactly? Like, I know what part of town this is, but why did you bring me to this specific place?”

“It’s a secret, so if you blab what I’m about to show you to anybody I will personally hunt you down at your home and wait until you are taking a shower to kill you, so everyone will find you dead and naked.” The stranger spoke without missing a beat, and Lance wanted to run in the opposite direction, their voice not sounding the least bit humorous.

“Relax, Pidge, he’s not going to tell anybody. I wouldn’t have brought him here if I didn’t trust him not to spill.” 

Lance tensed at that. Keith trusted him? A dopey smile stretched across his face, which he quickly hid by acting like he was wiping his nose.

“So, it happened again, huh?” Pidge asked, though it was less like a question and more like a boring statement. She led them into a small kitchen and to a locked door, like, a literal padlock was hanging on the door. Lance’s eyebrows raised to his hairline, but he stayed silent, not wanting to face this tiny human’s wrath if their earlier statement said anything about their character. 

“Our scanners were going crazy a couple nights ago, and we picked up some crazy seismic activity from the area too.” Pidge continued.

“Yeah, that was us,” Keith confirmed, voice thoughtful.

Lance knew they were talking about his experience, and he wondered how much this Pidge person already knew. Keith seemed well acquainted with them, friends even, which was rare for Keith Kogane. 

Pidge unlocked the door with practiced hands, and led them down the stairs to the basement. What caught Lance’s eye first was the overwhelming amount of machines and technical equipment scattered throughout the room. A recording device sat in a corner, its pair of discs motionless but half-used, and numerous computers could be seen around the room. Exposed bulbs were rigged to the rafters, wires twisting around the wood beams to refrain from smacking people in the head, and a few tables sat at the center of the room; it reminded Lance of an apocalypse bunker.

Someone who looked exactly like Pidge, only taller, stood at one piece of equipment, and greeted them with a warm smile. “Hey, nice to see you again, Keith! Any breakthroughs on the case?” He spoke cheerily, though it didn’t quite seem to reach his eyes, they looked tired instead. Keith shook his head in response to the question. 

“Okay, who are you people?” Lance finally spoke up, crossing his arms and glancing at each person in the room in turn. “And why does this place feel like an apocalypse bunker?”

“This is Katie Holt, or rather Pidge Gunderson now,” Keith began, smirking at Pidge.

“Katie Holt is on an extended vacation with her father to Japan, learning about technology over there before heading to college,” Pidge said innocently.

“And that’s her brother, Matt,” Keith finished, nodding his head to the man across the room. “They help me out on my cases since I’m usually on my own. And they run the most well-known conspiracist blog,  _ The Lone Gunmen _ . Don’t look them up, you’ll only scoff, but it’s all a facade to hide their reliable information- covert operations, inner government secrets, classified weaponry- they can find it all.”

“You may be asking yourself why?” Pidge smirks, fiddling with her glasses. “One word: spite. And also because it messes with the government and makes us seem crazy enough to keep them off our tails.”

“You realize you are talking to a government employee?” Lance deadpanned.

“Oh please, you’re cute thinking you’re a threat to us.”

Lance’s jaw dropped and he spluttered. “That’s really….offensive. I’ll have you know, I graduated at the top of my class-”

“Lance,” Keith interrupted the rant he was about to go on.

Lance shot him a look then turned back to Pidge. “But, I’m not going to tell on you anyway for two reasons. One being because I have no idea what it is you do exactly, and, two, Keith trusted me enough to bring me here, and I wouldn’t betray him like that. It’s hard enough to get a personal fact as simple as ‘what’s your favorite color’ out of him, let alone, have him reveal a secret bunker to me!”

Pidge snorted. “Cute,” she whispered to only Keith, who elbowed her. She snickered and then addressed Lance once more. “What we do is help Keith out on some of his cases. We have access to information not available to the general public.”

“What would you do without us?” Matt smirked, then turned back to the machine he was working on.

“What kind of information?” Lance inquired, genuinely curious.

“Illegal kind, agent.”

“And why exactly do you need this illegal information?”

Pidge glared at Keith. “You really haven’t told him anything.”

Keith glared back at her, but remained silent, so Lance knew this was personal. Then it all clicked. Lance had seen Matt somewhere before, and it was because his picture was in the folder he was originally given as a debrief. Matt Holt, Lance recalled, was apart of the Kerberos mission with his partner Takashi Shirogane. His participation in Agent Shirogane’s disappearance is unknown, which is why he was placed on the  _ Wanted  _ list, but before the government could detain him, he disappeared off the grid.  _ Wow _ , Lance thought, _ these siblings must have some serious skills to remain undetected for as long as they have, and right under the government's noses no less. _

“You’re Matt Holt? The  _ Wanted  _ agent that disappeared over a year ago?” 

“The one and only,” Matt saluted, looking indifferent.

“Yes, and you better keep your mouth shut about it!” Pidge growled. “He’s not responsible for the Kerberos incident, or the disappearance of his partner.”

Lance immediately raised his hands in reconciliation. “I’m only just surprised is all. It’s not like I know anything about Kerberos, only that it means a lot to Keith.” 

“You need to tell him,” Pidge muttured to Keith as she turned around and began poking at a machine.

“I will once he’s ready to listen,” Keith hissed. “He would laugh me out of town and just go back to calling me Kooky Kogane if I did now.”

Pidge shook her head sympathetically. “Look, he might be a bit closed-minded when it comes to paranormal phenomena- specifically aliens- because he hasn’t seen what we’ve seen, so he’s justified, but, I also think you’re overreacting about his reaction. He seems genuinely nice, and unfairly loyal. If he hasn’t left you yet, he’s here for a reason. Maybe you should give him a chance,” Pidge shrugged, and Keith remained in a thoughtful silence. “And even if he does leave afterwards, better than dragging him in too far to the point he won’t be able to leave. We don’t know where this path we’re chasing will take us, Keith, and we need to be able to trust everyone involved, and they need to trust us.”

The pair glanced over to where Lance was listening intently to Matt explain what the machine he was using was for, which happened to be scanning satellite radio waves for anything interesting. It was their most unreliable device, but it could come in handy.

Lance knew of the Lone Gunmen conspiracy blog, it was a running joke back at the office, and would have previously laughed Keith out of town had he mentioned their name in passing, but seeing these two before him now, they were probably two of the smartest people Lance had ever met. Keith kept showing him to not take everything at face value. Lance chuckled in disbelief as he sidled up to Keith, shaking his head with a soft smile.

“You are full of surprises, Kogane. Where’d you find these guys? Oh right, a conspiracy blog. I guess those things do hold some uses,” he teased, and Keith rolled his eyes, pushing past him to sit at the table.

“So, about that blood test I texted you about earlier,” Keith said, staring at Pidge across the table.

“On it,” she replied quickly, retrieving a needle and approaching Lance.

“Whoa, hold on,” Lance backed up. “I’m not letting you stick anything in me with a smile like that on your face! And is that even sterile?”

Pidge rolled her eyes, reminding Lance of Keith. “You FBI agents are always so technical”- a ‘hey’ was muttered by both Lance and Keith- “but yes, we may live in a musty basement, but we’re not heathens. Everything we do is highly accurate and efficient, even more so than your Bureau, and we come without the secrets and ulterior motives.” Pidge raised the needle in a silent question.

Lance was still skeptical about letting her jab him with a needle- it was that glint in her eyes, like she was enjoying this way too much- but relented with a glance at Keith, who nodded in exasperated encouragement. 

So, what exactly do you guys do down here....illegal wise?” Lance asked Pidge.

Pidge pursed her lips, then sighed, her expression looking more serious than it had been yet. “Look, I’m going to be honest with you, we don’t even know what we’re getting ourselves into here, and seeing as you’re an FBI agent, a highly respected one at that, we don’t really want to prematurely drag you into our mess. You’ve got enough going on in that head of yours, I can see it in the glazed look in your eyes. So let’s just take it slow, yeah? But Keith has to be the one to tell you about the Kerberos mission before any of this- this being why we take these things so seriously- will make much sense.” 

Lance swallowed and nodded. He could work with that. Pidge smiled tightly back at him, then carried the needle over to a set of machines, beginning the test immediately. Lance took a seat beside Keith, watching Pidge and Matt do their work, looking content and comfortable with where they were.

“So, how much do you guys already know about this case?” Lance mused, the silence pricking his skin in a way it usually does.

“Probably a lot more than you,” Matt said apologetically. “We have history with Keith, so we know things about him that no one else does.”

“Lance raised an eyebrow. “Uh, ew?”

Keith punched him in the arm and Lance snickered. “Must be nice,” he teased Keith, who only looked sheepish at the comment. “Dude, I’m kidding. I only entered your life like a little over a week ago, I know you’re not going to spill everything to me.” Lance reassured him, and Keith seemed to relax at that, so Lance turned back to Pidge and Matt, who was watching the exchange with curious gazes, which Lance ignored. “So, you’re like his therapists?” Lance joked at them.

Pidge smirked, “Exactly.”

“Please, you’re crazier than me. If anything, I’m your therapist,” Keith huffed.

“Keith,” Lance looked at him pointedly. “You carry too many secrets and too much baggage to be an effective therapist.” 

Pidge snickered. “He knows you so well, and it’s only been, what? A week and a half almost? You’re losing your touch, Kogane.”

“Shut up, Pidge.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lance asked, nose scrunching in confusion.

“You can easily read him is all,” Matt replied, before Pidge could say something wicked and Keith could change the topic. “Usually, people can’t get anything from him. He’s a loner by nature, and people get frustrated by that.”

“Well, he is a very infuriating person, but that’s not going to chase Lance McClain away,” Lance bumped shoulders with Keith, who blinked up at him with wide eyes. “I’m more stubborn than you, Keith Kogane.”

“Is that a challenge?” Keith smirked, and Lance smiled, glad to have him back. He’d been too quiet the past couple of minutes.

“Oh great, just what we need. Stubborness will get you nowhere, and you heard that from me first,” Pidge groaned, though she had an amused smiled on her face. 

“How long until the blood tests are complete?” Keith asked, changing the subject

“About an hour,” Pidge responded, retrieving a strip of paper instead. “In the meantime, we’ll relay what our machines picked up from that night. Maybe it’ll help us figure out exactly what the hell happened.”

“I’d like that,” Lance interjected, and Pidge smirked at him.

“Heard you’re our resident skeptic.”

Lance sat up straighter and groaned. “Not you too. You have all this scientific equipment, and yet you still believe in all that?! No offense.” 

Pidge shrugged, indifferent by the jab. “I didn’t, until the Kerberos case that involved my brother and best friend happened. It was too much for me to ignore, but we’re not some crazy conspirators, despite our blog saying otherwise; we check the facts for ourselves, but I’ve seen enough to know there’s something more going on here than meets the eye.”

“Yeah, something with a perfectly normal explanation,” Lance grumbled.

Pidge shook her head humorously. “I used to be just like you.”

“Is it really that hard to believe? A majority of space remains unknown to us, who knows what could be out there,” Keith added, looking a little dejected.

Lance softened a bit, realizing he was being a bit insensitive. “Sorry, dude, but my mind just won’t accept that. I don’t mean to call you crazy by refusing the idea of aliens, everyone has their reasons for believing, or not believing. And I believe in the technology we as humans have developed to offer the only explanations possible, and since there is no evidence of alien life, it is impossible. As Sherlock Holmes once said, once we eliminate the impossible, only the truth remains.”

“No matter how improbable,” Keith finished expectantly. It seems either man interpreted that statement in different contexts, but neither was budging; they were at a stalemate.

“Well, at least you’re well read,” Lance smirked, and Keith opened his mouth to respond.

“Anyways,” Pidge interjected before he could do so. “Don’t mean to interrupt your bonding moment, but here’s the seismic activity from the point you guys found that ring burned into the rock, and here’s two other graphs of nearby areas.” 

The only sheet showing erratic lines was the site of the ring, the others were perfectly normal. Lance admits, that’s odd, but then again he wasn’t an expert in geology or seismic activity, so he wasn’t sure what could be considered normal in general.

“So, whatever you experienced last night, it was localized to that specific area,” Pidge continued. “It couldn’t have been a random earthquake, the other sites would have picked up  _ something _ , it was too large not to be recorded by the other sites if this was a natural occurrence.” Lance threw out his earthquake explanation. “Also, the tests we did on the soils provided some interesting results concentrated to the dirt  _ within  _ the ring.” Pidge retrieved more papers, spreading them out for Lance and Keith to scan. “All these samples have normal levels of oxygen and nutrients, or rather lack thereof, but once we got inside the circle, it seems everything is replaced by an unknown element we’ve detected within the soil.” 

“Keith, you mentioned the ring glowed blue. Could this mystery element cause such a reaction and create the phosphorescence you saw?” Lance thought aloud.

“Interesting theory, but that would mean it would have to react with something at that specific moment, or else it would constantly glow,” Pidge answered like she had already thought of that. 

“Okay,” Lance tapped his chin. “So, maybe I had some other soil or type of element on me and exposed it to the ground, instigating such a reaction.”

“I like him, he’s not some mindless agent in it for the glory!” Matt piped up, and Lance blushed at the sudden kind words.

“Indeed. You are proving more insightful than you look, Agent McClain,” Pidge smirked. “I can see that’s why Keith has kept you around for as long as he has, not just because of your pretty face.” She wiggled her eyebrows and Keith reached across the table to shove her. Pidge adjusted her glasses, recollecting herself. “But, these samples were taken after your encounter, and we would have detected other soil types. Even if we did, though, that wouldn’t explain your disappearance.”

Lance sat back with a groan and rubbed his eyes. “So, this mystery element is basically all we’ve got going for us?”

“And the irregular seismic activity, yup.”

“Maybe the blood tests will provide more insight,” Keith offered, and Lance perked up. He had almost forgot about that.

“Oh yeah, let’s hope or I am going to go crazy.”

“We’ll welcome you to the dark side with open arms,” Pidge smirked. “So, Agent McClain-”

“Lance, please, call me Lance,” Lance interrupted.

“Okay then,  _ Lance _ ,” Pidge started again with a small smile. “Enough questions about us, what about you? Why were you assigned to be Keith’s partner?”

Lance froze, did she know he was supposed to be spying on Keith? That wasn’t possible, was it? She said they worked outside the law, so maybe she hacked into the FBI database and found out? No, Lance had to remain calm, or he would definitely tip them off, not that he wanted to keep this from them, but he wasn’t sure how they would react to if they found out, especially Keith, so he had to play it cool.

“Beats me,” Lance shrugged. “You can imagine my surprise when I was told I’d be working with Kooky Kogane over here,” Lance smirked at Keith, who glared at him like he always did when he used the despised nickname. “Maybe they were hoping he’d learn a few things from me.”

Keith scoffed goodnaturedly. “As if.”

“Hey, I have a lot of talents you don’t know about,” Lance squawked and Pidge snorted.

“Like what?” Keith crossed his arms.

“Well, I was the best shot in the Garrison, and I guarantee you I still am. I’m the Babe Ruth of guns, the Bureau’s resident sharpshooter,” Lance told him proudly, puffing out his chest slightly.

“Huh,” Keith said, looking astute.

“Your turn, what’s something I don’t know about you,” Lance leaned forward eagerly as Keith thought.

“I’m good with knives. I’ve got a pretty accurate throw,” Keith shrugged.

“He’s infatuated with knives. For his tenth birthday, he asked for a full-blown sword,” Pidge added with a mischievous grin. “And not the wooden kind.”

“Is that so? Wanted to be a knight in shining armor, huh?” Lance smirked at Keith, pleased to be getting  _ some  _ information about the mysterious man, who grumbled and sunk down in his seat.

A loud beep pierced the air, making Lance flinch, and he stuck his tongue out at Keith’s triumphant expression, while Pidge hopped up, announcing the blood test was finished. Lance and Keith waited patiently, or as patiently as they could, for Pidge to retrieve the results and read them over for herself. The whole time Keith’s fingers were tapping the table and one of Lance’s legs were always moving, giving away their joint-anticipation. Finally, she set the results down in front of them.

“So, everything appears normal except for one interesting thing,” she mused.

“Oh no, I do not want to hear my blood being called interesting,” Lance groaned.

“What is it?” Keith took the paper up into his hands and examined it closely, Lance peered over his shoulder.

“Well, if I’m not mistaken, and I’m not, the same unknown element we found in the soil is inside of Lance as well.” Pidge adjusted her glasses as she spoke calmly, like this wasn’t a surprise.

Meanwhile, Lance’s brain was short-circuiting. What does this mean? Is he infected with something? Where Lance was hoping for answers, he only got more questions, and his mind was reaching its limit of intake of information for the day. 

“Okay,” Lance was proud his voice stayed level. “What does that mean?”

“It means, there is definitely something at that site affecting you, but what, we can’t tell yet.”

Matt came over to look at the results for himself as well, whispering a few things with Keith. Lance strained to hear them, having retreated back to his seat when exhaustion threatened to make his legs shake, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying in time. He was desperate for something to ease this whirlpool inside his head; he flopped onto the table with a sigh.

“I’ve seen these readings before,” Matt spoke up. “It was around the time Shiro disappeared. Our technology started malfunctioning and spit out this exact string of data instead.”

“Are you sure?” Keith said, eyes sharp and focused. Matt nodded with determination, eyes clear and focused as well. “Pidge, is there any way you can retrieve that data?”

“Of course, I can,” Pidge said with a confident grin. “But not today.”

“Why? This is a huge breakthrough, Pidge! Think about what this could mean!” Keith urged, but Pidge laid a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re partner over there looks exhausted,” she said, bringing Keith down from his excitement. “We will pick this up another day, that information isn’t going anywhere. We need to proceed with clear minds and cautious steps.” 

“Don’t worry about me! I’m good to go,” Lance yawned afterwards and he cursed the universe, making everyone chuckle. 

“She’s right, you look terrible,” Keith said and Lance glared at him. “And it’s getting late anyways, Hunk will be looking for you soon.”

“I have a phone for a reason,” Lance grumbled.

Keith shook his head, “We really are doing this stubbornness contest?” That got a smile out of Lance.

“Fine, I know you’re really the one who’s tired, so I guess we can go,” Lance said loudly, getting to his feet.

Keith shared a look with Pidge, who only shrugged. “He’s your partner, you deal with him.” Then she spoke louder so Lance could hear her. “We’ll meet back up and get that data another day. Hopefully by then, Mr. Broody over here will have filled you in on the whole story.” She shot Keith a pointed look, but he avoided her eyes.

“Sounds good, Pidge. It was nice to meet you guys, and my lips are sealed!” Lance mimed zipping his lips, and then saluted with two fingers.

“We know,” Pidge chuckled. “You’re a good agent, especially if you’ve stuck around Keith for so long. Did he pay you or something?”

“Sawry, mah lipz aw sealed,” Lance said, keeping up the act of his lips being zipped closed, and Matt and Pidge chuckled.

They both slapped Keith on the back in goodbye and then Lance and Keith exited the house. Once they climbed back into the car, Keith glanced over at Lance. It was odd to find the man silent, and with a crease in his forehead rather than a smile on his face.

“You cool?”

“Yeah,” Lance replied after a moment. “Just processing everything.”

“Understandable.” 

Keith pulled the car out into the street. After a couple minutes of driving in silence, Lance spoke up.

“Are you going to tell me about Kerberos eventually?” He said softly, not wanting to scare Keith away since it was obviously a sensitive topic, I mean, why wouldn’t it be if his brother disappeared during it. 

“Yeah, but not today. It’s a, uh, a big thing for me to tell someone. It’s basically the moment my already shit life went to even more shit.”

“Understandable,” Lance parroted.

“Just go home and get some rest tonight, and I’ll let you know when I’m ready,” Keith said, voice soft but firm. 

“You too.”

The rest of the car ride was passed in comfortable silence, and Lance watched the trees and cars and people pass by as he leaned his head against the window, trying very hard not to doze off. Luckily, he managed, and as Keith threw the car in park, Lance spotted Hunk exiting the building. He thanked Keith and told him to keep in touch over the weekend- their off-days this week- before shooting him his usual finger-guns and exiting the car.

“Lance!” Hunk jogged up to him with a wide smile. “Wanna go out to eat tonight? Someplace fancy? I haven’t had time to make a trip to get groceries yet, but I will tomorrow. I’m just going to bake all day on my off day tomorrow!” Lance chuckled at his friend’s enthusiasm.

“Yeah, well I’m just going to sleep the whole day,” Lance said, and at that moment he meant it.

Hunk snorted. “Sure thing, dude. You and I both know you’re going to sit in the kitchen all day and eat every single thing I bake.”

“You know me too well,” Lance smiled. “Now, about that fancy dinner you were talking about?”

“Chinese takeout?”

“Chinese takeout.”

Lance sighed with relief when he and Hunk finally made it home to their apartment, and he dramatically sunk onto their couch. His feet ached from all the running he had done today, as did his head, but just another day on the job. But first, he had to eat as his grumbling stomach so kindly reminded him. He sat up with a groan, and took the box of lo mein from Hunk with a grateful smile. Hunk turned on  _ Chopped _ , and Lance hummed at the familiarity; this was nice after a day of surprises. They didn’t talk, both letting the show on tv ease them into a mindless hypnosis, a much needed break for both busy agents. Lance would fill Hunk in on what he was at liberty to say tomorrow.

 

It wasn’t until Sunday night that Lance got a text from Keith, who, always a man of few words, only sent an address with the explanation ‘I’m ready.’ Luckily, Lance and Hunk had just finished their spa routine- something they try to keep regular, but of course, life gets in the way sometimes- so he wouldn’t have to prematurely remove his face mask. Lance knew it was rather petty, but what could he say, Lance took his face routine very seriously. He was allowed to be petty when it came to his selfcare. 

So, with a quick explanation to Hunk, Lance was on his way to the address Keith had sent him, and when he pulled up he saw Keith’s beat-up black car pulled off to the side of the gravel driveway. His headlights illuminated a small shack, its windows and doors boarded up, and it’s shingles weathered. The woods surrounding it were all in shadow, and it was honestly a little creepy. But then Lance saw Keith leaning against a wood post that was a part of the porch and he immediately felt more at ease. 

Lance shut off his car, and climbed out, grateful that the moon was full since there were no lights around them, and it didn’t look like the house had electricity either. He walked up to Keith with his hands in his pockets, and smiled softly, sensing the delicate atmosphere.

“Hey, man,” he greeted in a soft whisper.

Keith took a deep breath through his nose. “This used to be my childhood home, and I know it doesn’t look like much now, but it was perfect then.” Of course, Keith is jumping right into things, Lance thought with a smile. “My father used to work for the FBI, that’s what got me interested in being an agent in the first place.” Lance nodded subtly, Iverson had informed him of that.

Keith turned and started walking around the corner, so Lance silently followed, staying close enough to hear what Keith was saying.

“We would sit out at this spot up ahead every night, and he would tell me stories about lifeforms from other worlds, and astronauts making big discoveries up there in space.” Keith glanced up at the sky, as did Lance. 

Keith was leading them up a small trail now, and it opened up to a small cliff, where there was a clear view of the moon and stars. Lance gasped softly at the sight, not knowing such a view could exist in a small town like this one. Usually, the breathtaking views were reserved for the national parks, and while this wasn’t quite on the same level as those, this spot was definitely the best in town. 

“It’s beautiful,” Lance smiled.

“That’s what I thought too,” Keith nodded, then cast his eyes down, the corners of his mouth dipping as well, like gravity was suddenly pulling on him much harder than before. “My dad was killed in action, at least that’s what the government said and my twelve year old self took it at face value. But now I know it can’t be completely true, there’s too much suggesting otherwise.” Keith raised his eyes to Lance’s, who tried to quietly convey that he was here to listen, not judge. 

“Let’s sit,” Lance suggested softly, and they did.

“Obviously, I wasn’t there when my father was killed, and of course, the crime scene has long been erased, but what I do have, is my father’s old writing. He specifically addresses me at the beginning of certain reports, like it’s some kind of letter.”

“Like the one you were looking at the other day,” Lance recalled. “But why were you trying to relate it to our current case?”

“My dad had access to all the government secrets, the experiments going on behind the public’s back, the classified weapons in development, all that, and he was a trusted agent. But he didn’t trust the government in return, so he recorded everything he knew in encrypted letters to me, so I may learn about them when I was older in case something happened to him. He was a paranoid person, but with good reason, and while it didn’t save his life, it did save the information he smuggled out. It’s all in these letters, Lance, I just know it! It has to be! Everything is connected, my dad’s death, Shiro’s disappearance, our current case; something’s not right, something that the government doesn’t want anybody to discover, and I need to find out what.” Keith leaned his head back and closed his eyes tight, like he was battling his thoughts and losing.

Lance laid a hand on his arm, hoping to pull him away from himself. “I don’t think you’re crazy, Keith,” Lance said earnestly. “I know you think I’m constantly judging you because I don’t believe in the same things as you, but I’m not. Everyone has a good reason for believing in what they do, and I just want to understand your reason. So, let me in, I want to help.” 

Keith sighed, “Lance McClain, you’re not who I thought you’d be.”

Lance’s mouth quirked. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Haven’t decided yet,” Keith shrugged and Lance shoved his shoulder. When Keith righted himself, he was somber once more. “I guess I should tell you about Kerberos now, it’s the key to connecting all the dots,” he sighed. “To understanding why I am who I am today.” 

Lance remained silent, looking up at the stars again to give Keith some privacy, show him Lance wasn’t here to scrutinize him, only listen to his words.

“Agent Takashi Shirogane is officially a missing persons, though we have reason to believe he may have been killed in action. The events that transpired on the night of 10.22.16 are unclear, and the role of his partner, Agent Matt Holt, is also unclear, which is why we are placing him under suspicion. But, we are taking Holt’s account into consideration as it is the only witness account we have. It is as follows,” Keith recited, like the words he was speaking were permanently ingrained in his brain, and his eyes were glazed over, distant. 

He passed a small notebook he retrieved from his jacket pocket to Lance, who opened it to where the ribbon bookmark was placed. He quickly realized it was a transcribed form of Matt’s account in Keith’s handwriting. He settled the book on his lap, then glanced at Keith, who had pulled his knees up and trapped them against his chest. Then Keith started reciting the words, and Lance followed them on the page, his finger dragging along with his eyes as he read.

“Agent Takashi Shirogane and I were tracking an unidentified person under suspicion for our most recent case [inserted sidenote: see sect. 1 pg. 2 for mission debrief] into the woods at approximately one in the morning. The moon was half, so light was minimal, but enough for us to make our way with confidence. We could just make out the shadow of our suspect ahead on the path. They stayed a steady twenty feet ahead of us, but was by no means trying to be quiet, breathing heavily and snapping undergrowth as they hurried past. We followed them to a clearing, where a ring conformed of stark black lines was burned into the grass, but the person in question was nowhere to be seen. They had seemingly disappeared. We proceeded with caution, guns raised and lights sweeping the area, but it was silent, not even the wind was blowing. Then Takashi Shirogane stepped into the ring, and it began to glow an unnatural purple, and our earpieces emitted static white noise, and we were forced to discard them. Not a moment later, a bright flash forced me to close my eyes, and afterwards, it took a few moments for my vision to clear. That’s when I noticed my partner was missing. I searched all night, at one point noticing an odd purple streak in the sky that I mistook for a comet, but it’s movement was all wrong. It looked to be spiraling upwards, not traveling linearly, but it disappeared too soon for me to confirm that,” Keith took a deep breath, coming out of his trance.

“Matt looked everywhere for him, and hasn’t stopped looking since, but he’s nowhere, not even in the government databases after that night. The FBI wants to charge Matt for his disappearance, which is why it’s important he stays hidden. I can’t imagine Pidge going through what I have.”

“She won’t,” Lance said confidently, knowing Keith needed it right now. “They’ve got everything handled; they’re geniuses hiding in plain sight and coming up with a cover story. I mean, I wouldn’t have thought of that!” Keith smiled at him wistfully. “But I’m glad you told me this, the parallels between the Kerberos mission and our case are uncanny, and definitely raises some questions,” Lance shook his head in disbelief. “Like, wow, we really need to figure out what’s going on here ‘cause I need some answers. And so do you.”

“I’d like to think he’s okay,” Keith spoke so softly Lance had to lean in a bit closer to hear him. “That Shiro is okay, but there’s never been another case where someone who was taken in the way Shiro was, you were, those three civilians in our case now were and many others, where they haven’t returned. He’s the only one, and I don’t know why.”

“We’ll find out what’s going on, Keith. We’ll find Shiro.” Lance made a mental note to have Keith show him the other accounts later. This case really was bigger than he thought.

“You said you wanted to understand why I believe in extraterrestrials,” Keith continued. “You’re probably coming up with every scenario you can right now that could explain what happened.” Lance frowned. Did Keith really think he was that insensitive? “But I guess, I’ve chosen to believe the impossible instead of accepting the possible, that Shiro really is gone.”

“And there is nothing wrong with that, Keith,” Lance said gently. “I don’t know what happened to Shiro, but I do know that you haven’t given up on him. There are an infinite amount of scenarios we could come up with to explain this event, but none of them matter because we, together, are going to learn the truth. You’re right, Keith, there’s more going on here than meets the eye.” Then Lance smiled wide. “‘More than meets the eye,’ like Transformers,” he chuckled. “Maybe it was the Decepticons who took Shiro.”

Keith’s lips quirked, and while it wasn’t totally a smile, Lance counts it as a win.

“Yeah, flying robots took my brother,” Keith softly scoffed. “And you call me the crazy one,” he rolled his eyes, but was actually smiling his small smile. 

Both turned their gazes back to the stars with no more words left to say and just enjoyed the newfound weightlessness surrounding them. They felt more like partners at that moment, than they had since Lance barged into Keith’s office on the first day. For the moment, they enjoyed the stillness of everything, but both knew they had to move forward now, and things were only going to get dirtier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so a lot happened in this chapter, and I hope it wasn't just word vomit all over you. If anything is unclear or confusing let me know!! I will gladly fix it, and it'll help me better my writing. Hope this lived up to your guys' reactions to chapter one, like really, thank you to everyone who gave me such kind words!  
> And we finally got some of the deats on what happened to Shiro, who is M.I.A. as usual. Oops. And the parallels were revealed. Hm, what could be going on? Hopefully it wasn't too much.  
> ~Until next time, stay safe palidudes!


	3. Chapter Three

_ A shadow stood before him, hulking and asymmetrical, one arm looking bigger than the other, and it had a powerful aura surrounding it. It sent a jolt of fear through Lance as he got the feeling this thing could easily crush him, and it didn’t help that he got the sense it wanted to. He wasn’t sure where he was exactly, only that it was dark and the only thing he could make out was this shadow standing rigid before him. Then it began to turn and Lance felt himself go cold, like ice was covering his skin, freezing him in place. Then more shadows appeared behind it, seeming to stretch infinitely as they disappeared into the distance, like no army Lance has ever seen before. He tried to scream when the first shadow turned a single red eye on him, but no sound came out, nor could he move when it, and all the others, lunged at him; however, before its sharp claws could pierce him, everything was washed away by a glowing blue river, which curled around Lance almost protectively, and he felt calm once more. He reached out to touch the water, and when his fingers dipped into it, he was surprised that it didn’t feel like water at all, but like it was live energy. It climbed up his arm, his veins glowing blue, and Lance felt empowered paired with a need to protect.  _

_ Suddenly the floor dropped out from underneath him, sending him into a free fall and leaving the blue energy behind him. Lance shut his eyes tightly, curling in on himself as he waited for impact, but when he blinked open his eyes once more, he was standing in a kind of laboratory, a spotlight on two cylinders glowing purple. Lance gasped when he saw what was inside, his attention focused on the woman floating in the first one. She had silver-white hair, which curled around her as it floated in the strange liquid she was submersed in. Her expression was one of forced peace, like it wasn’t accurately depicting what she was feeling and at a moments notice it would shift to show her true emotions. Lance drew closer to her, reaching out a hand to touch the glass of the cylinder, frowning at the network of cables that ran to and from the container. But before he could do anything else, everything faded to white and the sound of white noise filled his ears, forcing him to shut his eyes. _

Lance sat up in bed with a gasp, mind and heart racing as he tried to understand what he just saw. Was it all a dream? Or was this a side effect of this unknown element in his system? Lance wasn’t sure, and he certainly wasn’t in his right mind to think about it at- Lance glance over at his analog clock beside his bed- 1:17 in the morning. But he wasn’t going to fall back to sleep immediately, so he got up and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Lance found Hunk there, fiddling with his phone as he attempted to fine tune it to detect the unknown element. It beeped as Lance opened the fridge and Hunk gave a shout of delight.

“It works! It actually works,” Hunk said, hugging the phone close to him.

Lance stared at him as he drank his water, eyes already drooping as his exhaustion crept back. It was then that Hunk just seemed to notice him, doing a double take.

“Dude, do your eyes always glow?” He said warily, squinting at Lance.

Lance raised an eyebrow, his sleep-addled brain taking a moment to process what his best friend had just said. “Hunk, you’ve been awake too long, go to sleep.” He replaced the glass in the sink and trudged back to his room. Hunk watched him go, then shrugged and did the same. 

 

Lance stared closely at his eyes in the mirror before starting his morning routine, Hunk’s words echoing in his now-awake mind, but he saw nothing unusual with his eyes so he shrugged it off, turning his thoughts to the case, to Keith.

Since their impromptu meeting the other night, Lance has felt like Keith and him have become closer as a team, closer than Lance ever thought possible. Keith may not have told Lance all his secrets, but he trusted him enough to tell him about his most important one, the Kerberos mission. Now Lance can understand more of Keith’s point of view, see through his eyes a little easier, and while that doesn’t make him consider the possibility of extraterrestrials being involved with Agent Shirogane’s disappearance, it certainly helps him work with Keith more easily. He trusts Keith to have his back, something he’s never given any of his other temporary partners, besides Hunk, of course, and he hopes Keith knows he’s got his back as well. 

But something keeps nagging at him, a constant prick of guilt at the back of his mind reminding him of the true reason he’s working with Keith. It’s been a war inside of him for a while on whether to tell Keith despite his orders to work under the radar. It just feels wrong to carry this secret around when Keith had opened up to him, but he doesn’t want to lose what they have, this new companionship that could end up being one of his strongest friendships. 

Lance hissed when he nicked his chin while shaving, a few drops of blood dribbling into the sink.  _ This is what you get for brooding like Keith _ , Lance chided himself, setting his razor down and reaching for a square of toilet paper. He washed the blood away, and was surprised to find the cut already healed, drawing closer to the mirror, fingering the place he had been cut in confusion, but then he shrugged. Razor cuts always bleed a lot, making the tiny wound seem bigger than it actually is, so he finished shaving and got dressed in his professional suit since today Keith and him are going to talk to the three victims to see if they remember anything else since they were found in the desert.

Hunk had made a big breakfast since it was his day off, and while they sat down to eat he tried to explain to Lance the adjustments he had made to his phone last night to identify their mystery element.

“It was actually a lot of fun, you see I used that data you brought home on its chemical makeup and just fine tuned-”

“Hunk, my bro, light of my life, I love you and your brain, but it is too early for me to hear this, let alone understand it, which doesn’t even happen on a good day,” Lance interrupted him, feeling slightly guilty, but Hunk only smiled that bright smile of his, and stuffed more pancakes into his mouth. However, Hunk did show him how to work the app he had created on Lance’s phone, which seemed simple enough, and afterwards they chatted about benign things, like new recipes Hunk wanted to try, and where they should take their next ‘bro-cation,’ a term Lance had created, thinking he was clever, when Hunk and him started going on yearly vacations together; however, once they started working for the FBI they became less frequent. 

When it was time for him to head out, he gave Hunk a hug- that man loves hugs, and Lance was not one to deny him- before heading to pick up Keith. He easily found Keith’s apartment building, notifying Keith of his arrival with a text when he parked.

Keith walked out of the door the moment Lance’s text sent, and Lance leaned out the window to wave at him. He whistled when Keith got close enough to hear, eyeing Keith’s suit, black and pressed neatly. He even had his hair pulled back to tame his usual wild tendrils. Lance had to admit he looked good. He had to stop himself from staring when Keith climbed into the passenger seat.

Lance bit his lip to keep from smiling too widely lest Keith ask what was so funny because Lance really didn’t know why he felt so giddy. They were just two bros sitting in his car going to talk to people who could have repressed memories.

“Alrighty, so which house are we heading to first?” Lance spoke up as he started up the car.

Keith pulled out a piece of paper from his satchel and read off the address of the man, the first person to be ‘abducted,’ and then proceeded to give Lance the rundown on him.

“Carl Wisby is 43 years old, and a well respected pathologist, which studies the causes and effects of diseases. He’s relatively healthy, no serious injuries or diseases experienced throughout his life, and his mind is sound. I had all three victims tested by a psychologist, and all three came back healthy.” Lance nodded along as he spoke, eyes focused on the road. 

“Sounds like a smart man,” Lance commented. “Something we have in common.” He shot Keith a suave smile, but Keith didn’t notice, too busy looking over the paper.

“Maybe I should take you to get your brain tested,” Keith muttered, then eyed Lance with a smirk.

Lance’s mind froze, eyes locked onto that smirk, and when he finally dragged his eyes back to the road he had to slam on the brakes to prevent them from running a red light. He gave Keith a sheepish smile, which was received with a glare. 

“And you call me a reckless driver.”

“Hey! You were distracting me!”

Lance wasn’t sure why Keith’s smirk had caught him off guard, it was no different from the previous times, so he concluded it was because of the suit. Keith had cleaned up his appearance, so he looked different than usual, thus throwing Lance off. Yeah, that was it.

They arrived at the house without any further incidents as Lance kept his eyes firmly on the road- didn’t want a repeat of that incident. The house was well kept with a professionally manicured lawn, and Lance had to admit it was a little intimidating walking onto the porch encased by tall marble pillars and a glass chandelier hanging above, even more so when Keith rang the doorbell, and Lance heard the regal noise echo through the house.

They were greeted by Carl Wisby himself, and he welcomed them inside warmly after they showed him their badges. He guided them through the foyer, which held a grand piano that Lance’s fingers itched to play, and into his private office. He sat comfortably in his chair, all his awards and plaques hanging on the wall behind him.

“Well, I would ask what brings you gentlemen here, but I already have an idea as to what the answer would be,” he smiled. “So, ask away.”

“Thank you, sir. You’re cooperation makes our job a hundred times easier,” Lance smiled at him, retrieving his notepad and pen. Keith just nodded silently next to him. _ Looks like I’m going to be doing all the talking _ , Lance thought with a smile.

“So, Mr. Wisby, is it true you do not specifically remember going into the desert?” Mr. Wisby nodded, so Lance continued. “Can you tell us what means of transportation you took to get to the desert?”

“I drove my own car, it was parked there when I was found, though I don’t consciously remember driving it.”

“So, you don’t remember anything odd happening whilst driving?” Keith spoke up then, leaning forwards slightly, but sat back when Mr. Wisby shook his head.

“What  _ do  _ you remember, if anything?” Lance picked up the questions again.

Mr. Wisby thought for a moment, tapping his chin. “Just an overwhelming sensation similar to water being dumped over my head, and a calmness settled over me. Oh, and just the color blue. That first night after the incident, when I shut my eyes all I saw was a glowing blue color, like the light had imprinted on my eyelids.”

“Did you experience any other side effects?”

“I was just really tired for a few days after, like I had no energy, and I had a terrible migraine.” Lance made note of all of this in his notepad.

Then a ping sounded, and Lance realized it was his phone. He apologized and moved to silence it, but found it wasn’t a text message from Hunk like he had assumed, but his phone alerting him that it was detecting low levels of the mystery element. Hunk’s modifications worked! But Lance kept his face neutral, and tucked the phone back in his pocket.

They wrapped the interview up, finding no other significant information, and Lance passed his phone over to Mr. Wisby, asking for his contact information in case they have any more questions in the future, then placed his own card on the desk, in case Mr. Wisby remembers anything else, or needed to contact them for some reason.  

Once they were back in Lance’s car, Keith spoke up about the odd interaction, so Lance showed him the data his phone had collected.

“Look, when Mr. Wisby held my phone the concentration of our mystery element increased,” Lance explained, passing the phone to Keith, who squinted at it. “It’s residual evidence that Carl Wisby came into contact with this element, the same element that’s in my system.”

“Are you sure you didn’t contaminate the results?” Lance frowned, he hadn’t thought about that.

“Well, I’m not sure. Hunk tried to explain it to me, but I had just woken up, and this isn’t my forte,” Lance answered. Keith grunted in response.

“Can we send it to Pidge so she can take a look at it for us?”

“Yeah, just hit the mail icon in the corner.” Keith did as he as told, then typed in Pidge’s email. Lance continued to think about what this could imply. “Maybe, this is connected to their memory loss!”

“This element can’t be responsible for the memory loss because you haven’t experienced it on the same level they have, and you probably have the highest levels of exposure, so it’d make sense for you to be most affected if that were the case,” Keith mused. 

“Hm, makes sense. So, what do you think this element is?”

“It could be transporting people to wherever you went?”

“I’m not sure if transport is the right word, maybe it’s a hallucinogenic?”

“Pidge’s test would have picked up on that,” Keith said, setting the phone down between them since Lance was driving. “And you think I hallucinated the whole thing where you disappeared inside the glowing ring?”

“No! I- I’m just saying it’s a possibility! We could have been under the influence of a drug without realizing it,” Lance deflated. “I don’t think you’re crazy, I’m just trying come up with an explanation I can understand.”

Keith crossed his arms and looked out the window. “Maybe you should stop trying.”

“Keith, you know I can’t do that. It’s my mind’s way of trying to prove  _ I’m _ not crazy.”

“I think you just don’t want to admit that there are things that exist that science can’t explain. You’re scared of what that could imply.”

“Yeah, I suppose I am,” Lance said, voice quiet and vulnerable. 

Keith glanced at Lance out of the corner of his eye, but stayed silent. The silence stretched until Lance cleared his throat, voice returning to its normal volume. 

“So, uh, we’re am I going next?”

The next two visits to Sally Marmet, a stay at home mother, and Jesse Sabin, the teenager who had been riding his bike home, provided no new insight; however, what was interesting was that both said they experienced the same symptoms that Carl Wisby described; the blue light, feeling drained of energy, and an intense migraine a couple days following the incident. But none mentioned visions similar to what Lance was experiencing, which bothered him; why was he the only one seeing these images? His phone had also detected traces of the mystery element on Sally and Jesse as well, but nothing significant, just like with Mr. Wisby. 

Keith and Lance concluded that these people came in contact with the same thing Lance did, but for some reason, Lance wasn’t experiencing the same side effects they had described. And none of them remembered images like Lance after the experience. Whatever had happened to them, was no longer affecting them.

As their interview with Jesse and his mother ended, Keith received a text from Pidge asking if they could come over. Pidge never texted unless she had something important to say, so Keith consulted with Lance, who agreed they should head over and see what she has to say.

This time, Lance was pleased that Keith held normal conversation during the car ride, though Lance still had to initiate the conversation. Keith didn’t do small talk, but he was trying for Lance, and Lance appreciated it, so when it felt like Keith had nothing else to say, or was uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, he moved on. Then a song came on the radio and Keith smiled, a  _ toothy  _ smile- Lance noticed he had sharp canines and tried not to smile too wide at the sight of them- and turned it up, claiming it was one of his favorites. Lance made a mental note to add this song to his list of things he had found out about Keith. It wasn’t for the Bureau, it was only for him. He had Keith’s favorite restaurant on there, which he had let slip when Lance was pondering where he and Hunk should get dinner aloud, and also what his favorite color was- red, like the cherry leather jacket he often wore to and from work- the fact that Keith loved stargazing and just space in general, and now this song. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel in rhythm with the song on the radio. It was a classic rock song, the singer’s voice deep and raspy, and Lance found he was enjoying it.

They pulled up to the Holt’s house, and Lance snapped from his trance, throwing the car in park and climbing out after Keith. Pidge greeted them much like before, though she had more prominent bags under her eyes. When they got down in the basement, Lance was amazed at all the empty coffee cups thrown on the floor in piles. Matt was asleep on the table, surrounded by papers all spread out around him, one still clutched in his hand as if he had fallen asleep while reading it.

“How long have you guys been up?” Lance asked, glancing around the room then focusing on Pidge, displaying his concern with a deep frown.

“Ah, who cares?” Pidge waved her hand, dismissing Lance’s concern.

“So, what’s going on?” Keith spoke up, leaning against the table and plucking up a paper, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to understand the random scribbles on it.

“Last night our sensors measuring the unknown element picked up a burst of activity at the ring,” Pidge explained. “Based on the data, it started around midnight and steadily increased until it cut out about about an hour later, returning to its usual level.”

“But no one was taken,” Keith said, expression thoughtful. “There hasn’t been another person since...Lance.”

“Which is odd. Four people taken in a month and then nothing for two weeks?” Pidge said.

“Lance, show her what your phone detected at the interviews today,” Keith said. “Maybe it’ll tell us more about the way this element behaves.”

Lance dug his phone out of his jacket pocket and handed it over to Pidge, the specialized app already open. Pidge took it excitedly, a smile stretching on her face as she studied it.

“Your friend created this?”

Lance nodded proudly. “In one night, too.”

“It’s incredible. Truly a work of art! He’s perfectly worked out a way for the phone to-”

“Geek out over it later, tell us what it means now,” Keith sighed.

“Right. Basically, your phone detected two different sources of radiation during the first interview, see these two separate lines here, those are the sources. One is significantly higher than the other though.”

“That’s me. You said the element was still in my system, and I’m the most recent victim, so it’d only make sense it would detect the highest levels on me,” Lance spoke up.

“Of course, though I expected it to begin fading by now, like it looks to have with the other victims,” Pidge mused, pushing up her glasses. “It’s odd, this element doesn’t seem to be acting like any other I’ve seen before. I just can’t figure it out.”

“Maybe that’s because it’s not necessarily an organic element,” Matt spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention. “I’ve been studying these readings, and it seems to me like it’s behaving more like electricity, like its own energy source.”

“Of course! Matt you’re a genius!” Pidge shouted. “That’s why our readings aren’t consistent, it fluctuates as energy should.”

“It also makes sense for the victims to experience side effects as their exposure to this energy lessened, since their body had to readjust to makeup for the lack of energy,” Keith added, tapping his chin as he thought. “But why hasn’t that happened to Lance?” 

“Yes, why indeed,” Pidge echoed, staring at Lance as if the answers were written on his face in microscopic lettering.

“I think this mystery element, or energy, has attached itself to me for some reason,” Lance spoke up, gulping as all eyes turned to him. “Like I was compatible with it, unlike the others it came into contact with.”

“It? You think this is a live thing we’re dealing with?” Pidge questioned, cocking her head, and Lance nodded shyly.

“Why do you say that?” Keith asked, looking confused.

“Because last night I had this really weird dream around the same time there was a change in the levels of our element, and in my dream a glowing blue light appeared and when I touched it, I could  _ feel  _ it. It felt alive.”

“Tell us exactly what you dreamt,” Keith said, voice taking on that tone he usually gets when he thinks he’s onto something, his eyes flashing in excitement, and he stepped towards Lance eagerly.

“Uh, okay,” Lance bit his lip, knowing how crazy he was going to sound right now, but everyone stared at him with encouraging smiles. He sighed and explained his what-he-thought-was-a-dream-but-now-thinks-was-a-vision cringing as he realized he just how crazy this actually sounded.

They all listened intently, faces carefully blank, even after Lance had finished. Lance felt his fear and insecurity fill his chest, and he felt like he was slowly suffocating. Finally, Pidge broke the silence.

“Either this case has really gotten to you, or we have discovered an incredibly intelligent energy, let’s call it, that is trying to communicate something to you through these, these visions.” Pidge babbled excitedly, hands waving around as her excitement grew.

“The woman you saw, it was the same as the first image you remembered after you disappeared?” Keith asked, and Lance nodded.

“Her hair, I’ve never seen anyone with silver-white hair like hers.”

“The deeper we go, the more questions arise,” Matt mused in the background. “And it all started with that ring you two found.”

“We need to go back to that portal,” Keith concluded, and as much as Lance never wanted to go back to that place, he agreed. He had a feeling that’s where all the answers can be found. 

“Preferably at night, since that’s when all the activity appears to happen,” Pidge said, pushing her glasses back on her nose.

“Tomorrow night then, I already promised Hunk I’d help him bake a cake for Shay tonight,” Lance said, then smirked at Keith despite his tingling nerves. “Up for a little camp out, Kogane?”

“Maybe we’ll see a UFO,” Keith retorted. 

“Yeah, and maybe its alien pilot will let us take it out for a test run.”

“If it’s intelligent life, it won’t let you near the controls,” Keith retorted and Lance squawked. 

Pidge and Matt sighed in fond exasperation as the two descended into an argument.

  
  


Lance stood in the breakroom making his coffee, stirring it absently as he thought about what could happen tonight. Will they get the answers they desperately need? Will Lance find out what this energy is doing inside of him, and what it is exactly? There’s so many questions that still need to be answered, and Lance can’t help but hope this portal is the key to unlocking the secrets of this case. 

But a part of him didn’t want this case to be solved, because what would that mean for him and Keith? Would the Bureau dismiss him from Keith’s side since he hasn’t found anything out of the ordinary about Keith, at least that’s what he’s decided he’s going to tell them. And while leaving Keith would alleviate the conflict of having to spy on him, he would lose so much more. He’s enjoyed his time with Keith, enjoys being around him, and he doesn’t want that to end.

But this isn’t what he should be dwelling on right now. Lance shakes himself from his thoughts, and turns to grab a lid for his cup, pausing when he notices a crowd of his coworkers staring at him expectantly. Lance blinks, and gives them a questioning look and a confused ‘good morning.’ The girl at the front of the group huffs, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder.

“Well?” She says, crossing her arms and cocking a hip. “What’s it like working with Kooky Kogane? Have you seen any little green men yet?”

“Has he taken you to all his favorite UFO viewing spots?”

“Does he wear a tinfoil hat, and run a blog on conspiracy theories?” Another spoke up, giggling. “Has he shown it to you yet?”

“Is he actually an alien? He sure acts like it sometimes.”

Lance scowls at all the rumors, but quickly tries to hide it, smoothing his expression into neutral distaste- they’ll play it off as his thoughts on Keith, not themselves. Now Lance understands why Keith stays in the basement and doesn’t leave his office.

“No,” Lance says simply. “There are no tinfoil hats or little green men.” He says levelly, proud his tone stays neutral.

“So, he does run a conspiracy blog!”

Lance tries to push passed them to leave, but they only crowd tighter together, closer around him, and he can feel himself growing irritated. He can’t believe he used to be like them, looking for any gossip to make Keith look crazier than he already thought. They don’t know him, not like Lance does, and they couldn’t care less about that, choosing instead to sit behind their desks and make up rumors, and that bothers Lance a  _ lot _ . The continuous shouting in his ears about the different things said about Keith becomes too much, and Lance feels himself crack.

“Stop! Keith is not some crazy you all have made him out to be. You don’t even know him, and yet you all act like you do,” Lance barks, and everyone falls quiet, taking a step back from him and blinking in surprise. “He’s actually a good agent, not that any of you would know that.” His voice is cold and warning.

They all look at him, mouths in varying states of hanging open, then they burst out laughing. One of them punches Lance on the shoulder, most are clutching their stomachs with tears springing in their eyes. Lance only watches them coldly, mouth a thin line.

“That’s a good one, McClain!”

“Best joke so far!”

“Glad you’re embracing this bit of bad luck.”

“Be sure to let us know when he shows you his conspiracy blog so we can look it up!” 

Then they all filter out the door, some still laughing and hanging on one another, and some wiping away their tears with their ties. Lance just watches them go with a glare, waiting for them to move far enough away so he won’t have to see them again before moving on. He quickly walks to the elevators, hoping his stern expression would keep anyone looking to chat with him away, he wasn’t in the mood to talk and hear more insults thrown at Keith, or apologies about how unfortunate it is he’s ‘stuck’ with Keith. It wasn’t until the elevator started to descend that he realized he had left his coffee behind, and that only made his mood worsen. 

When he storms into their office- when did he considering it their office?- he finds Keith on the floor with numerous papers sprawled out around him, a pen stuck behind his ear, and his hair mussed like he had been running his fingers through it repeatedly. He glances up at the sound of the door opening and gives Lance a small smile, then returns his gaze to the papers.

Lance carefully tiptoes around his spread, taking a seat in his chair and closing his eyes while he massages his temples, trying to dispel the headache he feels coming on.

“Rough morning?” Keith askes, not looking back at him. “Got you some caffeine, it’s sitting on the corner of my desk.” Lance glances over and sure enough, there’s a coffee cup there. He nearly shouts for joy and tackle Keith where he’s sitting. “It may be cold seeing as I got here early, and you’re late.”

“Not late, I always arrive exactly when I mean to,” Lance says petulantly, taking a sip of his lukewarm coffee. The sweetness fills his mouth and he melts into the chair, any further arguments get swallowed with the coffee.

He hears Keith snort and he opens his eyes in time to catch him turning his head back around to his work. Lance sits up straighter, a bit embarrassed by his actions, and clears his throat before asking Keith what he’s up to.

“While I was waiting for you, I decided to have another look at my father’s papers he left me, trying to find anything out of the ordinary.” Keith shrugs, like it’s not big deal, and Lance knows he hasn’t found anything.

“Can I see them?” He asks lightly, making sure Keith knows there’s no obligation behind the question.

Keith stayed silent for a moment, then to Lance’s surprise, passes his father’s papers to Lance, who takes them gingerly, knowing how important they are to Keith. He begins reading them thoroughly, even the notes Keith has made in the margin. 

The entire time Keith watches him, face blank but hopeful Lance will catch something he missed. It would be good to have a fresh pair of eyes looking over the work after Keith has become dulled to the words after reading them hundreds of times. Keith sat there for the entirety it took Lance to read the papers, making his own notes and circling a few things here and there, until finally he looked up at Keith.

“Well, I think these really are just regular reports.” 

Keith’s heart sunk, those words hurting more than they should. He really should have expected Lance to come to that conclusion, but he didn’t think he’d say that to his face. Keith felt a spark of anger, but Lance continued before he could get a word out. 

“However, what I do find odd is how many times he repeats the date in the reports.” Keith’s angered shifted into surprise. “I mean, it’s not excessive, but he repeats them enough to draw attention.” 

Keith blinks, unsure how this is significant, but remained silent as Lance continued to examine them. Then Lance grabbed a sticky note and Keith passed him the pen behind his ear when he struggled to locate a writing utensil. Keith watched curiously as Lance wrote down the numbers, but they meant nothing to him.

“So, these are all the dates of the reports your father left you.” Lance tapped the pen on the note. “And I think it might be a kind of code. Did you guys ever create a special code together?” Keith shook his head. “Okay, do these dates mean anything to you?”

Keith stared hard at the dates Lance had written down, carding through his memories of his father, but came up empty. He let out a frustrated sigh.

“No.”

“Hey, we’ll figure this out,” Lance smiled gently at him, settling his anger. “You’re the key to figuring this out, he left them for you knowing you would be able to discover his message. So, it’s something you took great interest in,” Lance mused aloud, tapping his chin with a long finger.

“Stars!” Keith burst out suddenly. “We would always go stargazing together! And he would teach me the constellations, I know all of them by heart.”

Lance snapped his fingers, eyes lighting up. “Each constellation is best seen during a certain part of the year since the Earth is constantly turning, so maybe these dates correlate to specific constellations!”

They both crowded around the sticky note to look over the dates again.

“This one correlates to Leo,” Keith tapped the date in March. “It was my favorite constellation. And this one is Aquarius,” Keith pointed at the February date.

“The Lion and the Water Bearer,” Lance hummed, writing down Keith’s words. “What about the other two?”

After a moment, Keith responded. “This date corresponds to Hercules, a great hero. My father often told stories involving him. And I’m fairly certain the last one is Lupus.”

“Lupus? Never heard that one before.”

“That’s because it’s not a zodiac sign and there’s no horoscope for it,” Keith rolled his eyes, but a teasing smile was on his face.

“Come on, man, you know I only read those for shits and giggles.”

“Sure,” Keith smirked and Lance huffed at him. “Anyway, Lupus was first associated with wild animals and beasts, and now has stronger ties to the wolf.”

Lance finished his notes with a dramatic flare of his pencil. “Oh yeah! Look at us cracking this code! If only Pidge could see us now!”

Keith huffed a laugh, and shook his head. “But we still have no idea what any of that means- a lion, the water bearer, a great hero, and a wolf- they just don’t connect. What could my dad be trying to tell me with those constellations?” Keith’s hand ran through his hair, his head buzzing as he tried to recall the stories his father would tell him.

“I’m not sure yet, dude, but something tells me we’ll find out soon enough.” Lance smiled and laid a comforting hand on Keith’s shoulder.

Keith stared at the hand, mind going blank as he focused on the weight and the warmth of it. Then realizing it had been quiet for far too long, he cleared his throat and moved to grab his jacket.

“Still up for a midnight trek into the desert tonight?”

Lance shook his head, then smirked across the room at Keith. “You know me, ready for anything, even if I will be acting as bait!”

“I’ll be next to you the whole time, you have nothing to worry about,” Keith reassured him, slipping into his jacket with his back turned towards Lance, allowing him to stare at Keith with a warming face and a stuttering heart. 

“I was thinking of maybe heading up to the desert early to check further into the surroundings up there. We haven’t wandered much beyond the ring, and maybe we can find more of this element or energy or whatever it is somewhere else as well.” Keith turned around to grab his bag, throwing it over his shoulder. “You coming?” He asked Lance, who was still frozen in the middle of the room.

“Y-yeah!” Lance’s mind rebooted and he followed Keith out the door. 

 

Lance collapsed onto the ground beside the ring, joints aching and shirt drenched in sweat. At least Keith wasn’t faring any better. They had searched under every rock, every crevice in each rock formation, and anywhere else they could find before exhaustion took over, and they hadn’t gotten farther than a mile from the ring. Also, his phone hadn’t picked up the mystery element outside of the ring, leaving them hot, sweaty, and frustrated. 

Lance handed Keith a bottle of water, cracking one open for himself and resisting the urge to dump it over his head. At least the sun was going down soon, so it would cool off considerably.

“What’s the plan for tonight?” Lance asked, capping his water bottle. 

Keith sighed in relief as he finished drinking, wiping his forehead of sweat with the back of his hand. “Haven’t really thought about it yet,” He replied, capping his water bottle and holding it to the back of his neck. “If this energy really is only compatible with you, then would I be taken as well if I was inside the circle with you?”

Lance shrugged. “That’s what we’re here to find out, I guess.”

“You’re right, so I’ll stick close then. I brought a hand-held camera to set up to film the ring during our experiment as well, that way we’ll have everything documented.”

“Good idea, I didn’t even think of that,” Lance said, laying onto his back as he watched the last rays of sunlight disappear. “So, what now?”

“Now we wait.” Keith settled in beside him, tucking his knees close to his chest and staring up at the sky, waiting for the stars to show themselves.

They stayed like that, both silent as they watched the lights slowly twinkle into existence. Lance will never stop being amazed at the sight of stars filling the night sky. He easily spotted the big dipper, pointing it out to Keith.

“Wow, a true astronomer,” Keith teased, a soft smile on his face.

“Oh yeah? Show me what you know, Kogane,” Lance retorted, knowing full well he was challenging Keith at something he’s been studying his whole life, but not caring. This was something Keith loved, and Lance wanted to hear him talk about it.

“You’re on, McClain,” Keith smirked, eyes glinting as he began pointing out the constellations.

Lance watched Keith’s lips curve further and further until he was smiling while he talked, the stars seemingly reflected in his eyes. Lance tried to find the stars Keith was pointing out, but eventually gave up to trace Keith’s profile, then his hair, then his smile; Keith looked at ease talking about this, his features soft instead of sharp, like he was free out here under the stars.

“We’re all connected, to this planet, even to the stars. At least that’s what my dad said, and I like to think he was right,” Keith said quietly.

“My mom always said we were made of stardust,” Lance added, just as quietly, tucking his hands behind his head.

They fell into a comfortable silence once more, just taking in the night sky, wondering what else has yet to be discovered. So much could be hiding out in the vast darkness of space, the possibilities were endless. Each day we as humans travel farther and gain new knowledge of what is around us, our hunger for more being the driving motivator. It was incredible how passionate we can become about one or many things, and Lance saw that passion now looking at Keith. 

However, as usual when thinking about Keith, the thought of how he was going behind his back by not telling him he was supposed to be spying on him made an appearance, and it weighed heavily on his conscious. Lance bit his lip, his internal conflict becoming too much, and he opened his mouth to just blurt it out before he could regret it, but Keith spoke up before he could.

“It’s almost midnight, we should go inside the ring.” Lance nodded in agreement, biting his tongue. Now was not the time to tell Keith of his orders. “I’ll set up the camera now,” Keith said, standing.

Lance sighed and stood as well, brushing dust off his pants and stepping inside the ring. He had expected to feel an energy pulse, or maybe hear the white noise again, but nothing happened, which was kind of a relief to Lance. Maybe nothing would happen tonight. Lance watched as Keith set up the camera, then step inside the circle. They stood there awkwardly, hands in their pockets, and gazes looking anywhere but each other.

“So, uh, how’d this go down last time?” Lance asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

Keith cleared his throat. “Um, basically this ring started glowing blue, and the rock under your feet shimmered, rippling like water before you fell through. I couldn’t get inside the ring because some invisible barrier was surrounding you.”

“Wow.” Lance blinked, not sure how to respond to that.

“Yeah,” Keith shifted on his feet. “Just let me know if you start to feel...weird or anything.”

“Will do,” Lance nodded.

Lance glanced at the time on his phone, reading 12:32am, and double checked to make sure Hunk’s modification was running before replacing it back in his pocket. Suddenly, a sharp buzzing filled his head, making him wince and clap his hands over his ears. It increased in intensity, and Lance fell to his knees, shutting his eyes tightly as he tried to fight the noise. He felt a pair of hands on his shoulders, but he couldn’t hear anything Keith was saying, because he was sure he was saying something. And then a calmness overcame him, flooding over his body like water, a blue light calling to him in his mind. All other sensations left Lance, and he swam towards this light, smiling at the comfort it provided. He felt weightless, and empowered, the energy pulsing inside of him and echoing inside his mind, though it wasn’t saying words, just imprinting its emotions on him. But before he could translate them, he crashed into something hard, jarring him out of whatever he had just been experiencing. 

Lance gasped and his eyes flew open, hands flying out to stabilize him as he sat up. He blinked away the blue light, rock walls and shadows slowly coming into view, and his eyes immediately searching for Keith, finding him a little ways away, laying on his side. Lance felt a pang of relief flow through him, and he crawled over to Keith, his legs still a little wobbly. He pushed Keith onto his back, a groan escaping the man as he did, and Keith’s eyes fluttered open, then widened as they cleared.

“You’re still glowing!” He gasped, sitting upright, almost headbutting Lance in the process. “You have these marks around your eyes and your veins are glowing blue!”

Lance looked down at his arms, pulling up his sleeve to see what Keith said was true, and his hands flew to his face, as if he could feel the marks Keith was talking about. Then his eyes raised, and he gasped at what he saw rising behind Keith.

“K-Keith,” Lance’s hand stretched to Keith’s face, pushing his head towards what he was looking at.

Lance knew what it was he was looking at, but he couldn’t explain it, couldn’t believe this was real. Keith and him had been standing inside the ring only a moment ago, and now they stood in what looked like a cave gazing up at a, what looked like a, mechanical, blue lion.

Keith was gaping beside him, frozen as he took in the sight. He was the first to move out of the two, reaching out a hand to touch the barrier around it. He knocked on it, but nothing happened until Lance stepped up beside him and placed a hand on it as Keith had. The barrier immediately dropped, and the lion’s eyes flashed yellow, it’s jaws opening to let out a roar before settling before them, as if inviting them inside. Keith and Lance glanced at each other with matching expressions of disbelief, though Keith’s held more excitement while Lance’s bordered on fear.

“It’s a…”

“Spaceship,” Keith breathed, a giddy smiling stretching across his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I reworked and reworked this chapter, hoping I wasn't sounding like a broken record, just repeating the same things. As always, if something is confusing or doesn't make sense, let me know! Always enjoy hearing your thoughts, don't be shy!  
>  Hope you guys enjoyed it, and now the fun begins!


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter! I spent a while on this because a lot happens, and I wanted to find the best way to explain it all, so I hope you guys like it!   
> And just for the sake a clarity, we start out with a flashback. I tried to think of a time stamp that was short and clear, but since I didn't assign a specific date to when this fic specifically started, it was a bit difficult.  
> Anyways, enjoy!

_ Iverson stumbled through his dark office, keys jangling as he pulls them out of the door. He checks the room to make sure he arrived before his secretary, as the ominous voice on the phone had told him to come to his office when he knew he would be the only one around. It was four in the morning, two hours before the eager recruits usually showed up, and he quickly closed and locked the door once more. Then he made his way into his private office, cautiously entering and moving to flicking on the lights when a deep, commanding voice rang out. _

_ “Leave them off.” Even though Iverson had been expecting them, their tone still made him break out into a cold sweat. “Sit down, we have much to discuss.” _

_ Iverson did as he was told, managing to find his chair without knocking anything over. He had never seen their face, and he wasn’t sure he ever would; he could only see the outline of the person in the room with him now, a darker shadow amongst the shadows, and Iverson was beginning to be grateful for this secrecy, their presence was intimidating as is. When nothing was said, Iverson cleared his throat, opening his mouth to speak, but he was cut off before he could utter a single syllable. _

_ “You are here to listen, not talk, and then you are going to do what you are told or there will be consequences. You did so well last time, I’m sure you will not disappoint us this time either.” They spoke threateningly, and Iverson clamped his mouth shut, nodding curtly in response.  _

_ “Good, you are a wise one, then. That is why we chose to appear to you the first time.” Iverson remained quiet, eyes trained at the back wall instead of the shadow sitting in his corner armchair. “Now, we told you what we want and yet you still delay in giving it to us.” _

_ “I assure you, we are trying-” _

_ A throaty growl cut Iverson off, and he shrunk in his chair. “We do not care if you are trying, we only care about the results. You were successful the first time, but you still have four others to deliver! We grow impatient, and you do not want to know what it is we do when impatient.” _

_ “Ye-yes, sir,” Iverson muttered through clenched teeth, hoping they wouldn’t clack together as he talked. His hands were gripping the edge of his desk impossibly tight, and he knew they were going to cramp up once he let go.  _

_ The figure grunted in an animalistic fashion, then stood, head almost brushing the ceiling, and disappeared out the door. But Iverson didn’t relax, he couldn’t, not as long as those guys were on his tail. So, he made a call then, fingers shaking as he pressed each number. Then steeled himself as an overly cheerful voice answered. _

_ “Agent Lance McClain, I have a new assignment for you.” _

  
  


Lance gaped up at the Blue Lion, rubbing his eyes in disbelief, but the image never wavered, even when he tried pinching himself. This was definitely not what he had been expecting to find when Iverson put him on this case. And then a thought struck him, and he felt a stab of panic along with it. Was this what Iverson had intended for him to find? No, it couldn’t be, he had just told Lance to find out if Keith knew anything he wasn’t supposed to, which things had been manageable up until now. How could he possibly keep  _ this  _ a secret?

Lance glanced over at Keith, who was investigating every part of this spaceship with childlike awe and excitement, the widest smile on his face, and Lance felt a pang in his chest. Does he tell Keith the truth? Tell him to stay away and not get involved with this, because if this was what the government had meant for him to find on this case, then there was a reason, and reasons were always messy, but Lance could tell this one was especially messy. Why wouldn’t it be with a seemingly sentient spaceship involved? 

“Let’s take it for a ride!” Lance’s train of thought stuttered to a halt, and he glanced up to see Keith staring at him, still smiling. Gosh, why was that smile so rare? It should be on display everyday.

“No,” Lance found himself saying, even though his heart wanted him to tell Keith yes. “We can’t take this thing out in the open for many reasons, one being it’s a  _ giant blue lion! _ We are government employees, what would happen if we were caught piloting this thing, which, by the way, I have no idea how to do in the first place!”

Keith crossed his arms, smile falling into a more thoughtful line before gravity pulled it into a frown. “You’re right, sorry. I got carried away. But isn’t this incredible?”

Lance glanced back up at the now unmoving lion, and he swore he heard a purr inside his head. “Yeah, she is.” He couldn’t help but smile; he felt himself calm at the noise she was making.

“She?” 

“Hm? Oh, uh, yeah,” Lance rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Um,  _ she  _ told me she was a she. Like, I can feel her in...my mind.” Lance realized how crazy he sounded, but he didn’t know how else to explain this connection he felt with the Blue Lion.

Keith raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more, though he obviously wanted to, which Lance was thankful for. He sighed heavily, letting the tension melt from his shoulders. What a day this had been, and Lance still hasn’t processed it all.

“So, now what?”

“I’m not sure. But, I’m confident this is part of my dad’s message to me. Leo, or lion- we’ve found one piece of the puzzle.” Lance blinked at that; he had forgotten about the message Keith’s dad had left behind for them, well, Keith, to interpret. 

“Oh yeah,” he said dumbly. “Hey, Keith, listen-”

“Do you think there are others?” Keith didn’t seem to hear Lance, too excited by their discovery, his mind understandably flitting all over the place.

“Um, I’m not sure. I only sense Blue here.” Lance sighed, rubbing his eyes as his exhaustion began to catch up with him. 

This was beginning to be too much for him, first it seems he’s connected to a spaceship in the form of a blue lion, then there’s the question of does he tell Iverson about this, and, of course, when is he going to tell Keith the real reason he is standing beside him here today, or if he should even tell him. These were the questions constantly bombarding him, and it was tiring and frustrating. Lance wanted to do his job and do it right, but he also didn’t want to lose Keith, and it felt like he could only have one or the other at the moment. And with Keith smiling like that, there was no way he could let go of Keith at the moment. So, he held in what he wanted to say until later. 

“Are you okay?” Lance glanced over to find Keith beside him now, hand hovering above his arm, looking at him with a concerned expression.

“Never better, mullet, just tired,” Lance said with a smile. 

“Then we should head back. The Blue Lion will still be here when we decide to come back.”

Lance sighed gratefully, then gazed up at Blue, who had already stood up in her original position, and, once the two of them stepped out of range, her barrier was put up once more, the cool blue glow filling the cave once more. 

Lance turned his attention fully forwards, and guided Keith out if the cave- which was simple thanks to Blue’s guidance. Neither shared a word on the walk back, both too deep in their own minds and buried with varying emotions.

Keith was obviously excited, enthralled, enthusiastic- take your pick. He just found an alien spaceship, one that his father had been trying to tell him about in his messages, he was sure. He had been losing hope, finding no evidence to support his theories on his father’s demise and Shiro’s disappearance, until Lance. Lance who, tonight, has led him to possibly all the answers he’s been looking for. And that was the sign he needed to keep looking for the truth.

Meanwhile, Lance felt himself sinking deeper into his despair with each step. He didn’t understand anything that had happened tonight, nor did he really want to because then that would be more information he’d have to decide what to do with, whether to hide it or relay it to the Bureau. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the Bureau right now. Had they known about this spaceship? If this is what they wanted him to find, why didn’t they just tell him outright? He felt like something was off here, but he needed time to himself right now, time to get his thoughts organized. He needed Hunk. Hunk always helped him think rationally, and while he didn’t want to get Hunk involved in fear of where this could lead, he also didn’t want to make a wrong decision that could cause an even bigger problem. Lance felt the weight on his shoulders, and it only got heavier when he glanced at Keith, who was wearing a small smile, eyes distant like his mind.

  
  


“Mr. McClain, I would like to meet with you as a follow up to the report you submitted.” Lance glanced up from where he was pouring his coffee to see Iverson standing beside him. He almost dropped his coffee at the realization; Iverson almost never approaches anyone personally, they’re always called to his office by his secretary. Lance guessed it was part of the better-than-you complex he seemed to radiate.

“Of course, sir.”

Lance abandoned his coffee and followed Iverson back to his office, ignoring the many curious stares at their backs. He thought being in the office would settle his unease, but it only increased, and Lance glanced around, finding everything the same as it’s always been, so he pushed the feeling aside and sat down across from Iverson.

“Mr. McClain, have you anything to show from the work you’ve been doing?” Iverson began shuffling around papers, at least that remained a constant.

Lance was taken aback by his words. “Sir, of course, I submitted my findings in the report this morning.” He tried to keep his voice respectful, and not let his nerves close his throat. He momentarily doubted his decision, but his mind helpfully supplied him with Hunk’s words.

_ “You’re instincts have always been like a sixth sense, so learn to trust them and yourself. If you do that, you’ll make the right choice.” _

Lance cleared his throat, hoping to banish this cold feeling, and squared his shoulders, pulling his confidence forwards. The key to success was being confident, act like the words from your mouth should not be doubted and they won’t be. 

“Did you forget the reason you were put on this case?” Iverson retorted, face darkening, the sudden hostility making Lance uneasy. “I do not care about these people’s missing memories, or some new element you have discovered. I want to know what you found out about what Keith Kogane knows.”

This was the moment Lance had been dreading, the moment he kept replaying in his head, trying to decide what he should say, what would be convincing and what would get him caught outright. But in this moment, he knew exactly what to say.

“Keith Kogane knows an exceptional amount about a lot of things.” That caught Iverson’s attention, as he eagerly leaned forward, lips twitching into a smile momentarily, his full attention was on Lance, and Lance felt his confidence rush back into him. 

“I was rather surprised by all he knew when this establishment has thrown him in the basement and made a mockery of his name.” Iverson’s face fell. “Keith Kogane is a good agent, does his job with the utmost credibility and yet is brushed aside by all his colleagues and superiors. You asked me to observe him, find out what he knows, and my results were that he is far more equipped to solve a case than a majority of the other agents I know, I said as much in my report.” Iverson was slowly getting angrier, Lance could see his eyes darkening, but he kept on. This was what he wanted, to deflect and distract. “I’m not sure what you were expecting me to find, that aliens really are real? As if,” Lance chuckled dismissively. “But I certainly didn’t find any of those if that’s what you were hoping for.”

“Agent McClain,” Iverson’s voice was dangerously low, his anger close to boiling over. “You are dismissed.”

Lance blinked, not expecting it to have been that easy, but he looked at Iverson’s dejected posture, face hidden by his hands, and decided he wasn’t going to question it. He quickly stood, and left the room, not daring to look back should he be called to return. 

Only when the door was closed and locked by Iverson, did he unmute his desk phone, allowing him to hear the person who had been listening in. 

“He knows nothing,” Iverson grunted, clenching his hands into fists, resisting the urge to shove everything off his desk. 

“I think otherwise,” the deep voice replied, sounding pleased. “You humans are pathetic at lying, he is obviously hiding something. And I think that something is what we are looking for. I’ll take over from here.” There is a final click, and then silence. 

Iverson took a deep breath; now all he had to do was wait.

 

Keith glances at the clock, huffing when it shows a later time than he wants, and returns his focus to doodling on a sticky note, ignoring all the papers spread out on his desk in favor, and trying to take his mind off of possible reasons as to why Lance is especially late today.

His head shot up faster than he’d like to admit, and his heart definitely sped up, only getting faster when he saw it was indeed Lance who entered. _ Who else would it be _ , his mind helpfully replied. Keith glanced away, trying to play it cool, asking himself why he was so excited; it was only Lance, he saw him everyday, so he should be used to it by now.

“Hey,” he said in greeting, hoping it sounded nonchalant. “What took ya this morning? Your hair or your ugly mug?”

Lance grunted half-heartedly, sinking into the chair across from Keith, who finally looked up and studied him. He looked drained, face drawn tight, his usual smile missing and his eyes duller. He looked resigned, and that didn’t sit well with Keith, who immediately sobered, and he leaned forward, catching Lance’s eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

Lance wiped a hand down his face, sighing before answering with a rueful smile. “Iverson called me in for a meeting.” Keith’s heart spiked at that. Did Iverson know about what they had found? Did Lance tell- no, he wouldn’t. “He seemed disappointed with my report, as expected since I left out all the exciting parts,” Lance chuckled, albeit it didn’t hold the same playful heat it usually did. He seemed distracted. “He’s hiding something, Keith, and it has to do with the Blue Lion, I just know it. We can’t let them find out about it!”

“Of course we can’t, we won’t.” He assured Lance, watching the other man carefully. “He doesn’t know about it and never will, so you have nothing to worry about.” Keith had tried to make it sound encouraging, but he knew it came out blunt, like he was stating a fact. He wasn’t good at these things, okay? But for Lance, he’d try. 

“I know a lot has happened since you met me, most of which you’ve had to hide from the Bureau, usually because I ask you to, and that’s put a lot of stress on you. And for that, I’m sorry, but I also want to say thank you. For not laughing at me, for not brushing my theories off, and for trusting me. It means a lot.” He let his eyes drift to the papers spread out on his desk, not wanting to see Lance’s expression, this was hard enough to say out loud without adding Lance’s shit-eating grin to the mix.

“Keith,” Lance said breathily, and Keith finally raised his eyes to Lance’s face. 

That shit-eating grin was absent, and instead Lance looked ashamed, much to Keith’s confusion. His fingers nervously played with the fabric of the office chair, plucking at it, and he wouldn’t meet Keith’s eyes. Keith immediately retreated into himself, unsure why Lance looked like that. Had he said something wrong? Why was he acting like this? 

“Keith, don’t say things you’ll regret.” Lance’s quiet voice drifted over to him, and that snapped Keith to attention, lighting the fire inside of him.

Who does Lance McClain think he is to know what Keith will and won’t regret saying? Is he ashamed to have been Keith’s partner, to have shared the same space as him? Is that why he’s shutting him down right now? Keith ground his teeth, and stood, throwing his hands down on his desk, causing Lance to startle and glance up at him in surprise.

“Who are you to say that!” Keith yelled. “You don’t know me! Sure, you’re the only person who’s attempted to understand me, who I’ve welcomed into my life willingly, but that doesn’t mean you have any power over me!”

“Keith-”

“No, just listen! I’ve shared way more with you than I have anyone, and when I say something like that, I would hope you’d take it seriously! I’m trying to do what you’ve done for me, I’m not the best at it, but I’m trying for you. Because you’ve helped me more than you think, Lance, and I want to do the same for you.”

“Keith,” Lance’s voice made his distress evident, and Keith snapped his eyes back to him, cutting off his rant. Lance looked smaller than he ever has before, and that settled some of the fire inside of him.

“What.” He crossed his arms and clenched his jaw, continuing to glare at Lance.

“I wasn’t trying to seem unappreciative of what you said. I do take your words seriously, and I understand how hard it is for you to share things, why you decided to share them with  _ me  _ I’ll never understand, but I am unworthy of that knowledge, Keith. Every piece of your life you’ve shared with me has been eating away at me, not because of anything you’ve done, but because of my decisions.”

Keith’s throat was closing, unease prickling the back of his neck, and his eyes searched Lance’s face for any clue as to what he was talking about. His fingers dug into the material of his shirt, his heart thumping wildly. What was Lance trying to say? Was Keith not good enough for him? 

“Spit it out.” Keith growled, not meaning for it to be as harsh as it sounded, but his nerves were making it hard to think.

“I was partnered with you to spy on you.” Lance deflated as he spoke, sinking further into the chair as if he could just disappear. 

“What.” Keith ground out, nails digging into his skin through his shirt. If he clenched his jaw any harder, he might crack a tooth. The fire inside of him came back full fledged, and he reached across the desk to grab Lance’s collar, making the other man look at him.

He saw fear and hurt reflected in those blue pools he had grown used to, but were suddenly unfamiliar. Good. If all this had been a lie, than at least it was hurting him too. 

“I opened myself to you, showed you parts I’ve shared with very few others, and you’re telling me it was all a lie,” he growled, hands beginning to shake.

“No!” Lance looked frantic, but didn’t try to wiggle out of Keith’s grasp, staying submissive. “I’ve never lied to you about anything but the true reason I walked through that door that first day! Keith, please, Iverson assigned me to you, and I had a mission to complete. I didn’t even know you outside of the ‘Kooky Kogane’ persona everyone made up, so yeah, I wasn’t going to argue with him!” Keith shook him to stop his rambling.

“What did he tell you to do exactly?” Keith said, scarily calm. 

“He told me to find out what you know, that’s all he said! Cryptic, right?”

“And what did you tell him?”

“Not what you think,” Lance’s face hardened, eyes cold and distant as they searched Keith’s face. “You think I would just expose you like that after everything we’ve been through?”

“I don’t what you would do anymore since our whole relationship is based on a lie.”

“Well, I didn’t tell him anything, not about your father’s messages, or about Pidge and Matt, or how you’re still looking into Shiro’s disappearance. I only played up the ‘Kooky Kogane’ excuse as my past, cocky self would have so no suspicions that I was hiding anything were roused.”

“Why?” Keith’s voice shook, his grasp on Lance’s shirt loosening.

“Why?” Lance chuckled humorlessly. “You really don’t know why? God, Keith, because you’re my friend! Because you’re a decent human being just trying to find the truth behind your father’s death and Shiro’s disappearance!” Lance let his head fall back against the chair, eyes momentarily fluttering closed, before he spoke more softly. “And because I don’t want you to get involved with the Bureau. They’re hiding things, Keith, why else would they want me to spy on you? They know something we don’t, and that could get dangerous.”

Keith released Lance, and took a step back, grateful his bangs were shielding his face because he wasn’t sure what emotion it was showing right now. 

“Get out.”

“What?” Lance’s voice was barely audible.

“I said get out!” Keith yelled, everything becoming instantly overwhelming. His thoughts were buzzing with his emotions, and nothing made sense. He wasn’t sure what was truth and what was a lie anymore, and he needed time to figure out if he trusted Lance anymore. And he had to do that without Lance staring at him with those pleading blue eyes.

Lance hesitantly stood, pausing like he wanted to say something, then brushed past Keith, hands in his pocket and shoulders slumped. Keith didn’t turn around, waiting for the click of the door to signal his exit.

“Just please be careful,” Lance said softly, then the door closed with a final click.

Silence immediately filled the room, making it feel suffocating, and the only sound was the ticking of the wall clock. Despite feeling lightheaded, Keith remained standing, hunched over his desk, fingers curling into the wood. He screwed his eyes shut, hoping that would hold all the emotions inside, but it only made them louder.

He needed to get out. He needed someone who would listen to him and offer a less emotional opinion. Keith needed to see Pidge. He grabbed his jacket and satchel, deciding he was done for the day, and left out the basement exit, not wanting to risk running into Lance, or anyone for that matter.

  
  


Pidge took one look at his face and ushered him inside without a snarky remark, setting a pot of water on their hotplate in the basement to brew some tea while Keith sat heavily at the table. Matt stayed quiet as well, knowing Keith would start talking when he was ready, but he didn’t bother to keep the concern off his face. He even set his pencil down, abandoning whatever he had previously been working on. 

Keith tugged at his hair, and it helped to clear his head a bit. He sighed heavily and glanced up at Matt and Pidge, who had settled beside her brother.

“It’s Lance.” 

Their faces morphed into one of understanding, and Matt leaned forward. “Ah, yes, we thought this might come up.”

Keith stared at them blankly. “You knew he was lying to me?”

Both of their faces dropped into one of confusion. Pidge adjusted her glasses, trying to hide her surprise, while Matt’s mouth was hanging wide open. 

“What?”

“Iverson partnered Lance with me so he could spy on me, find out ‘what I know’ apparently,” Keith grumbled, drawing invisible designs on the tabletop with a finger. 

Pidge quietly slid off her stool and poured a cup of tea, sliding it across the table to Keith, who gratefully wrapped his hands around the warmed ceramic. She returned with another for Matt, who thanked her with a smile. Once Pidge was settled, she turned back to Keith, doing what she did best- think logically.

“And you’re angry because?” Pidge knew Keith needed to be walked through his thoughts and feelings, knew it would help him make sense of everything he was feeling at the moment. 

“How could he hide something like that from me?! I thought he trusted me; I certainly trusted him.”

“And do you not trust him anymore?”

“I- I don’t know. He told me that was the only lie, but how can I be sure?”

“Take a look at Lance’s actions instead of his words. Have you ever felt like he didn’t have your back? Has here been any moments where he felt ingenuine?” 

Keith organized his thoughts and started playing through his memories, but he couldn’t find one instance of where he doubted Lance until this morning’s interaction. He shook his head to tell Pidge his conclusion.

“Okay, we’re getting somewhere. Now, tell us what he told you this morning.” Pidge said unfairly calm, in Keith’s opinion, but it served to encourage his own mind to calm down.

He relayed everything he could as accurately as he remembered it, starting with Lance returning from his meeting with Iverson and his closed-off demeanor. He described how Lance had looked ashamed when Keith thanked him for standing by his side, and how weak his voice had been when he admitted to the lie. He remembers the look on Lance’s face clearly as he watched Keith explode, blinded by his anger, Lance’s eyes showing guilt and sadness, but also acceptance. He remembered how Lance didn’t try to fight back when Keith grabbed him, only pleading his case with soft words and an expression that said he knew they wouldn’t be heard, but had to be said nevertheless. By the end of his explanation, Keith felt like a jerk. He trailed off quietly after he told Pidge and Matt what Lance had told him before he left.  _ Just please be careful _ . Keith groaned and let his head drop onto the table.

“I was a big fat jerk.” He mumbled, voice slightly muffled by the table. “I overreacted, but it was a big revelation that sent me spinning, made me feel like I had lost control. I worked hard to be honest with him, saw him as someone who looked at me as an equal for once- not including you guys- and thus, would treat me as such. So, when that lie was revealed, it felt like everything else had been a lie as well.”

“You may not have reacted accordingly, but you did stay true to being Keith,” Matt said, and Keith detected a little humor to it. 

“It’s not funny, Matt. He felt like he could trust me with that information, but I spit it back at him and threw mud in his face.”

“Yes, you made a mistake, and so did Lance in hiding this from you for so long,  _ but  _ now it’s time to make amends. Without that lie, you wouldn’t have gotten to know Lance. And don’t deny it! We all know if he had told you he was supposed to spy on you, you would have immediately shut him down, and not to mention, that would be going against his orders, which we also both know that’s not Lance. He’s loyal to a fault, and his fault caught up with him this time. He set out to do his job, but ended with trying to preserve your friendship.”

“You’re right, but I just need some time to calm down.” Keith admitted.

“Glad that’s taken care of, now we can have some fun! You can help us by looking through these reports!” Pidge shoved a pile of papers across the table, proceeding to explain what exactly Keith should be looking for- any other instances involving the unidentified element they had been looking into.

“This is what you call fun?” He huffed fondly, uncapping a highlighter and beginning to scan the first page.

“Tell me about it,” Matt smirked, and ducked when Pidge made to swat him with another stack of papers she was holding. The three of them dissolved into chuckles.

Keith lost himself in the words, adopting a steady rhythm quickly, and was glad for the distraction. Hours passed as Keith steadily made his way through his stack, only pausing when Matt announced dinner- homemade mac and cheese with a can of soda. The atmosphere was light as they laughed and traded stories while they ate, and then had a burping contest afterwards- Pidge totally won, and no one could deny her that. 

Just as they were turning in to finish their reports, however, they were interrupted by the ringing of Keith’s phone, a specific ringtone he had gotten so used to hearing he didn’t even need to look at the caller ID to know who was calling him, and he felt himself freeze up. Was he ready to talk to Lance? What did Lance think of him after this morning? He felt bad about blowing up at him, but this wasn’t something he could so easily dismiss. And he had a feeling Lance knew that, so why was he calling him now? And especially at this time of the night.

  
  


Lance lets out a long, suffering sigh as he closes his apartment door behind him. He had walked home since Hunk was out with the car on another case and a car ride with Keith was not something he could have asked for even if he had wanted to put himself through that (which he hadn’t). He screwed up, he knows that, but at least he wasn’t hiding anything anymore and Keith could decide what he wanted to do about that, about him, and while Keith’s outburst had been expected, it didn’t hurt any less. 

Lance moved on to his nightly routine, sure his heart would shrink until it disappeared if he continued this line of thought- though, that didn’t sound so bad at the moment. Lance proceeded to make himself a grilled cheese, leaving the dishes in the sink to do tomorrow, and grabbed a beer before plopping down in front of the television, turning on some travel show, the host currently trekking through a thick jungle, whacking away with a machete as he explained the ancient civilization he was hoping to find evidence about. 

Lance was asleep quickly, sprawled across the couch haphazardly, one leg on and one hanging off, arms thrown out, and head tilted back, mouth wide open. It wasn’t until midnight when he stirred, cringing at the stiffness of his neck, and he sat up, clicking the television off and wiping a hand down his face then through his hair, a yawn escaping his mouth while doing so.

He froze when he heard a thump, like someone had opened a window all the way, and his eyes found his issued gun on the coffee table in front of him. He slowly reached for it, not wanting to alert the intruder to his awareness, if there was an intruder- this job often has the side effect of paranoia. He relaxed minutely when his fingers closed around the cool metal, and he took a deep breath before slowly standing up, eyes scanning around the room. All windows in the room were closed and locked- Hunk and him usually always keep them locked unless it’s summer due to paranoia again- so he carefully made his way to the kitchen, sticking close to the wall as he peered inside the small room. It’s single window on the farthest wall was partially open, curtains fluttering, but Lance remembered opening it while making his grilled cheese, and after a quick scan of the rest of the room he moved on. He held his gun steady as he crept down the hallway that held the bathroom and his and Hunk’s rooms, his nerves prickling with the shifting shadows, but he didn’t dare turn on a light, that being somehow more frightening than the darkness. 

Surprisingly, his heart rate was steady, only a little elevated because of adrenaline, but it seems exposure to this on more than one job finally paid off. He peeked into their storage closet just to be thorough, even though, realistically, not even his skinny ass could fit inside, the shelves holding towels and other products taking up a majority of the room. 

Next was Hunk’s room, and Lance paused outside the door to listen for any sounds that would alert him to something out of the ordinary. He nudged the door open with his elbow when only silence met his ears, raising his gun as he quickly slipped inside, eyes searching the room. Hunk always kept his things extremely neat, so it would be easy to identify if anything was out of place, but it seemed everything was where it should be, even the trinkets along his windowsill undisturbed. Lance backed out of the room, swiftly turning around once in the hallway again.

He searched the bathroom next, even being brave enough to pull the shower curtain back- quick, like a bandaid- but found everything as it should be there as well. All that was left was his own room; Lance was beginning to think the sound he heard had been entirely in his head. He had to finish this though, and finish strong, like he was trained to do in the academy, and if anything was to come from this, it would be a funny story to relay to Hunk at least. 

Lance peered into his room, the door already open as it usually was, searching the darkness for a minute before creeping inside, eyes locking on his open window immediately. Lance had left it cracked, certainly not all the way open, nor had the screen been cut before. Seriously, could they not have just opened the screen like they did the window? Savages. 

Lance proceeded cautiously, eyes searching the shadows, as well as looking for anything that may have been stolen. But just like Hunk’s room, everything was in the place he had left it, so he moved to inspect the window, studying the cut in the screen. It was a clean split, probably the result of a newly sharpened blade. Lance noticed some incisions on the window sill, so they must have held it in their and as they climbed inside, though Lance didn’t have an explanation for why there were so many, at least eight, if they had only been holding one knife. He ran his fingers over it absently, then crouched down to examine the floor, finding small grains of soil there, confirming someone had entered the house. Lance narrowed his eyes, and quickly stood, swinging his gun around.

His eyes widened when he spotted the figure that was blocking his doorway, filling it entirely. A throaty chuckle escaped them, sending shivers down Lance’s spine, but he kept his gun steady. 

“You picked the wrong house to rob, let me tell you buddy!” Lance retorted.

The figure didn’t answer him, but stepped into the room, his bulky form growing even more intimidating as Lance studied him, looking for any noticeable weakness, but all he saw was this guy’s huge arms, and hands that seemingly ended in unusually sharp points. 

Lance wasn’t given a chance to process what he was seeing, as the hulking shadow lunged towards him, crossing the entire room- okay, it wasn’t that big of a room, but it was big enough- in one jump, landing on his bed and swiping a huge hand towards Lance, who barely had time to dodge. He flung himself to the side, running into his bookcase, sending a few books tumbling to the floor, and he held in a groan of pain as the corner of the bookshelf stabbed into his hip. He kept moving though, raising his gun and firing a warning shot. His blinds had been torn down and a stream of moonlight illuminated the his attackers silhouette, but all Lance could focus on was what appeared to be ear reminiscent of a bat atop their head.

“What the f-” Lance’s words turned into a yelp as the figure lunged again, landing where Lance had been previously standing, only now he was running out the door.

Lance glanced over his shoulder to see his attacker stalking out behind him, and pushed himself faster as he beelined for his phone, thrown somewhere on the couch. He frantically threw the pillows around as he shoved his hand in between the couch cushions, smiling in relief as his fingers closed around the small rectangle that possibly held his life in the balance at the moment.

But no sooner was his phone securely in his grasp, he was knocked across the room, yelping as he hit the wall. He raised his eyes to see the lumbering figure approaching him, a pleased growl escaping them. A clawed hand raised to their face, tearing off what looked like a cloth, and then a red light pierced the darkness, the glow revealing some of their face. Lance gasped, wincing when he felt his ribs twinge with the exclamation, when he caught sight of fur and fangs, as well as the ears- so he hadn’t been hallucinating the ears. 

Lance quickly grabbed his gun, which had thankfully landed beside him, and shot two bullets at the figure’s legs, both shots hitting their mark from what Lance could tell, but that didn’t slow their progress. They were almost on top of Lance now, and he fumbled with his phone, flicking on the flashlight just as they were reaching to grab him. The sudden light made them growl with annoyance, but served to momentarily blind them, and that was enough of a moment for Lance to retreat. He wasted no time in opening his camera next, only managing to snap one picture, with questionable quality, before it was smacked from his hands, flying across the room.

Lance gulped, turning back to his attacker as they shoved him into the wall, moving in so close the shadows no longer hid their features. Lance’s eyes widened, unsure what he was looking at, only that he had never seen anything like them before. They reminded Lance of something a mad scientist would try and create; they were covered in purple fur, displaying a mouthful of fangs in a cold grin, and a red scope instead of an eye, bathing their face in an eerie red glow. When he raised a hand to grip Lance’s face, Lance saw they did indeed have claws, and he tried to squirm out of his grip, but those claws dug painfully into his skin. He wanted to spit, to curse, to do anything towards them, but the large hand covering the lower half of his face prevented that. The other hand was pinning his hands against his stomach, the gun having been forced from his grip, so it was now laying at his feet. 

The creature chuckled again, deep in his throat, as his eye flicked over Lance’s face. He turned Lance’s head back and forth, like he was a rare specimen to be studied. It set Lance on edge, but he didn’t let any weakness show, glaring blue fire at his attacker. 

“You have quite a lot of fight in you for being such a fragile thing,” they spoke, voice deep and curling with smug confidence. Lance startled at the sudden sound, playing it off as another attempt at freeing himself, though it barely did anything. “Though I suppose, that’s why it chose you, hmm?”

Lance stayed quiet, not quite sure to what they were referring to, but he wasn’t going to let them know that. Then the claw on his cheek dug in hard enough to break skin, and Lance cried out in surprise, the sound muffled by the creature’s hand, and he felt the cool stickiness of blood run down his cheek. The furry hand over his mouth removed itself and swiped at the blood, wiping it away with a finger and raising it to inspect more closely, for some reason. Lance swore the scopic eye whirred as they focused on the blood, and then his attacker smiled, wiping the blood off onto the wall beside Lance’s head, before returning his attention to Lance.

“Who are you? What do you wa-” Lance was cut off by a slap to the face that sent him to the floor. 

“You are not to speak unless spoken to, runt! You will come willingly, or things will get messy.” They growled.

Lance was still dazed by the slap, mind cloudy, but he registered there was no longer any hands on him and their back was turned to him, a mistake that could save Lance, so he grabbed his gun, then dashed towards where his phone had been thrown.

His attacker roared, enraged, but Lance didn’t stop, nor did he look behind him. He spotted his phone laying face down on the ground and prayed that it wasn’t broken. He felt a claw snag his shirt, but quickly ripped it away, turning his gun behind him and firing haphazardly. There was a grunt, but Lance had known it wouldn’t stop them, only slow them down, which was the goal. He dove for his phone, scooping it up and almost groaning in relief. But then a foot came down on his back, right between his shoulder blades, and a sharp twist made him cry out and drop the phone right in front of him. But Lance McClain was not so easily beat. 

“Siri, call Agent Mullet!” He called out and almost broke out in manic laughter when the dial tone could be heard. It was only after that he realized this was probably his only chance to contact another person, and he chose the one person who would most likely ignore him at the moment. Lance’s heart plummeted.

“What did you do?” His assailant pinning him down demanded, pressing him further into the ground, the air escaping his lungs. “What is that device?”

Lance decided to play this thing’s ignorance to his advantage as best he could. “It’s an alarm.” He managed to squeeze out, breathing greedily when the pressure let up.

“Turn it off. Now!”

“No can do, big guy. Once it’s turned on, it can’t be turned off.” Lance stared hard at his phone, trying to telepathically contact Keith, trying to relay his need for him at the moment.

“Lance.” Lance almost cried at the sound of that voice, not caring it was carefully neutral, no huff of fond annoyance sounding after the word.

“Keith!” He squeaked, the pressure on his back returning, along with a hand on his head. His head was yanked back, forcing a yelp out of him, and when he opened his eyes he found himself face to face with his attacker.

“I said, turn it off right now, or there will be consequences, and I’m not sure you want to find out what they are exactly.” Their voice was even and cold, a calm cruelness to it that had Lance’s mouth drying out. 

“Lance?!” That was Keith’s voice again, sounding more distressed after probably hearing what had just been said, and both sets of eyes- Lance and his attacker- snapped to the phone.

They let go of Lance’s head, and pushed off of him, causing Lance to grunt. They sneered at the phone, studying it curiously.

“And who might this be?” They mused, that cruel grin back on their face. “Your back up? They aren’t much help to you if they’re inside that thing.” They chuckled.

“If you hurt Lance I will personally hunt you down and do ten times worse than whatever you do to him, I promise you that.” Keith’s voice was scarily even, voice low and threatening, and it made Lance’s heart beat faster. 

“That is a nice threat, but it means nothing if you cannot help your friend right now.”

As the creature’s attention was focused on the phone, Lance slid his gun out from under him. He didn’t hesitate to fire, even if his arm was wobbling with the effort, his energy nearly drained, and his aim lacking because of it. He fired the last of his shots rapid fire, collapsing against the ground afterwards, listening to his name being shouted repeatedly by Keith, but unable to get any words out of his mouth. 

His attacker roared, bringing his heel down on Lance’s head, and the last thing Lance heard before the darkness claimed him was his name being called by Keith, panic evident in its tone and the edges shaking with rage and possibly fear. Lance was glad it was the last thing he would hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go! Now things get complicated for the boys, and they have to figure what exactly they got themselves into. Next chapter we'll see more of Pidge, Matt, and Hunk~ they've been absent long enough! And I've got a plan for Allura and Coran, but I'm not quite sure if they'll make it in the next chapter or not, so guess you'll have to wait and see!  
> If anything is confusing, please let me know and I will fix it to the best of my abilities! I write to grow! And thank you to all who are reading this, deeming it interesting enough to click on, and maybe even leave a kudos, or better yet, a comment! I always love hearing what you have to say!  
> Until next time, stay safe!


	5. CHAPTER FIVE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why did this take me so long to write? I blame the aliens. *x-files theme plays*  
> Sorry for any mistakes in there, I just wanted to get this out there for you guys, so my proofreading was more like skimming and looking for misspelled words. Enjoy!

When Keith pulled up outside the place Lance and Hunk shared, he didn’t pay any attention to the ambulance or police cars outside, his mind only focused on one thing. He ducked under the police tape, eyes frantically searching the room for the body, the body he had kept picturing in his mind on the drive over. When all he saw was police tape and evidence markers, he let himself breathe a little easier, eyes quickly locating Hunk instead. Keith took pity on the man, who was looking small despite his large stature, his hands wringing together relentlessly as a cop explained something to him, though it was obvious he wasn’t paying attention, eyes dull and distant. Keith walked up to the pair and flashed his badge at the cop, who eyed him bitterly before moving on. Hunk gave him a grateful look, though it was short lived as tears spilled over and Keith was pulled into a suffocating hug, Hunk crying on his shoulder. Keith awkwardly patted his back until Hunk calmed himself down, pulling back though he kept a hand on Keith’s shoulder. 

“What- what happened, Ke- er, Agent Kogane?” Hunk said, voice wavering with emotion. 

“Just Keith’s fine, Hunk.” But that’s all he said, unsure how to answer the question because he wasn’t sure himself, just that Lance was in trouble. Hunk seemed to collect as much and his face turned grim. He pulled Keith in for another embrace.

“I have something for you once everyone disperses, so stick around until then,” Hunk whispered then pulled away as another cop approached him. 

Keith slipped away to investigate the scene for himself, hoping the commotion would be enough to keep anyone from questioning him, and if they did, he would just flash his badge at them. First, he examined what had already been marked, a gun-  _ Lance’s  _ issued gun, but the question was who had fired it- bullets more than likely from said gun, and a puddle of blood nearby, which looked a bit darker than what Keith was used to, but it could be a trick of the light. Keith glanced around, seeing everyone was busy and slipped out a handkerchief, dabbing at the blood and then stuffing it back in his pocket. Hopefully Pidge could use this sample to identify Lance’s attacker. 

He skirted around the couch, noticing how the pillows were scattered around the room and the cushions askew, a beer bottle half concealed by the couch and Keith immediately felt guilty. Sure, Lance wasn’t a stranger to drinking, but Keith knew he was the reason he had chosen to last night. He glanced away, eyes noticing hairs that were most definitely not Lance’s or Hunk’s stuck on the couch. Lance never mentioned having a pet, so Keith quickly swiped them, disguising the motion as him smoothing out the fabric of the couch, something people did unconsciously quite often. He circled the couch once more, noticing an odd strip of black fabric on the ground, but it had already been marked so he moved on. 

The next thing he noticed was a blood smear on a wall and quickly looked away, willing away the mental images surfacing. He clenched his fists and moved from the main room, down a hallway and peering into the rooms as he passed. Lance’s room was at the end of the hall, the pictures littering the bedside table confirming Keith’s guess. He took a moment to study these pictures, which were overflowing with people of all sizes and ages, the youngest hanging off of Lance’s arms in one picture, making Keith’s lips quirk seeing their happy faces. Keith tore his eyes away from the pictures to study the rest of he room, frowning when his eyes landed on the bookshelf, a couple books laying on the ground beside it while those still on the shelves were tilted, like someone had run into it. He didn’t find any indication of who, and left the books the way they were, seemed the police hadn’t made their way back here yet. 

The fluttering of the curtains caught his attention and he zeroed in on the window. The screen was cut and flapping gently in the wind, the edges clean so the intruder must have used a knife. Keith moved to examine the window more closely, finding gouges on the sill, the paint scraped off and the wood splintered. He ran his fingers over them, mind trying to work out an explanation for this. They were where the intruder would have grabbed when hoisting themselves inside, but unless they were Edward Scissorhands, they wouldn’t leave marks like this. Keith took a picture for Pidge and Matt to examine later, then crouched down, finding soil on the floor. Keith quickly collected a sample, making note to also grab a sample from the flower bed beneath this window later for comparison. A quick sweep of the rest of the room produced no new results and he returned to the main room, directing some of the officers that way since he had collected what he needed, then slipped outside, collecting that soil sample before returning to his car to lean against it, observing the scene swarming with people before him. He had done what he could, and now needed Pidge and Matt for the next step. He was eager to get started, mind chanting Lance’s name over and over like a prayer, like it would ensure his safety, and his fist tightened around the handkerchief in his pocket. Only Hunk’s pleading words for him to stay kept him locked in place against the hood of his car. 

Instead, his thoughts returned to the call he had received just over two hours ago. Lance, who he had yelled at that very day, had called him for help. He had trusted Keith to be there for him, even after Keith had basically told him he wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Lance had trusted him, that’s why he told Keith about going behind his back, because he thought Keith would understand, but instead he had just blown up in Lance’s face. Keith clenched his jaw until his teeth creaked in protest.   

The sound of car doors slamming alerted him to more people arriving, and he almost snarled when he saw Iverson climb out of a black SUV. He was the last person Lance had talked to besides Keith, and Keith felt the beginnings of an uncontrollable fire in his stomach. 

Iverson noticed him immediately and stiffly walked over, hands clasped behind him as he eyed Keith. “Kogane, what are you doing here?” His voice was steely, trying to remain professional but his distaste still there.  

“Agent McClain was my partner, why wouldn’t I be here?” Keith responded, just as steely. The flames were only being fanned by Iverson’s words, and Keith wanted to set them free, wanted to see this man burn for his lies. Keith blinked, unsure where that train of thought had come from. He tried to reign himself back in, but fire wasn’t easily contained, only corralled. 

“You left work early today,” Iverson’s voice interrupted Keith’s concentration. “Any particular reason for that?”

The fire inside of Keith turned blue. “Are you asking if I had anything to do with this?” Keith’s voice was dangerously low and he glared up at Iverson. 

Iverson opened his mouth to reply but he didn’t get the chance. Keith’s fist connected with his jaw, sending him stumbling back in surprise. Keith looked surprised at himself for a moment, but then his gaze hardened and he shrugged off the hands that had tentatively wrapped around his arms. Iverson rubbed his jaw, face stony as he glared at Keith. 

“This is  _ your  _ fault, not mine! And I will find out how,” Keith spat, climbing into his car and slamming the door.

The agents and Iverson retreated after that, not bothering to look back, and Keith sighed, sinking into his seat. He had no idea where that punch had come from, just that his emotions had bubbled over at the accusation and the next thing he knew his hand was throbbing from the power behind that punch. Iverson was definitely going to have a bruise, and Keith couldn’t keep the smile off his face at that. Still, the lack of control he had felt was alarming, like he was warring for control of his body with something else, and while that should have scared him, he had an inkling this mysterious force meant no harm. He was still staring and flexing his hand when Hunk tapped on his window, a tired smile on his face. Keith waved him in and Hunk squirted around the car to the passenger seat. The big man was trying to keep himself together, that much was evident, and Keith’s heart went out to him. He had just lost his best friend and was probably scared out of his mind for him, yet here he was still standing and making efforts to get him back. 

Keith began to drive away from the house after Hunk buckled at his request, and Keith stayed quiet, knowing Hunk needed some time to himself for now. He would speak when he was ready. Hunk didn’t speak until the crime scene was far behind him, asking Keith to pull over. Keith did without question, throwing the car in park and turning to stare curiously at Hunk. Hunk retrieved a black box from his pocket and it took Keith a moment to recognize it as a phone, the screen completely cracked but still, somehow, intact. 

Keith stared at Hunk in disbelief. He had never expected the big guy to go against the law, and a manic smile broke out on Keith’s face. Hunk had to have been scared out of his mind after arriving home and finding his house in disarray, yet he kept a clear enough mind to think ahead. Keith awas impressed to say the least. And the fact that he had trusted Keith and only Keith with this piece of evidence made Keith’s stomach flip.

“Yeah, I, uh, I managed to snag Lance’s phone before the police arrived.” Hunk said guiltily, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly and holding up the cracked phone.

“Well, it’s not breaking the law if the phone was never there,” Keith smirked. “Does it still work?” Hunk nodded, clicking the button to turn it on and Keith brightened, not unlike the phone.

“I just thought that maybe Lance may have tried to give us clues, you know? He’s a quick thinker and wouldn’t just passively sit back and let someone take him.”

“If the state of your house is anything to go by, I think it’s safe to say he put up a heck of a fight. Quick thinking grabbing it, Hunk, hopefully it’ll give us a lead.” Hunk smiled then turned his gaze back out the window, fingers tracing the metal box.

“So, uh, what was all that with Iverson?” He spoke up after a moment, watching Keith’s hands start the car instead of staring at his face, something Keith was grateful for.

Keith sighed through his nose, eyes momentarily fluttering closed. “He suggested I had something to do with this.”

Hunk’s eyebrows nearly rose to his hairline. “I can’t believe he-”

“But maybe he’s right.” Keith cut him off, grip tightening on the steering wheel. “We had a fight. And, and I drove him away. I was just so angry he lied, and now, now he’s- we don’t even know where he is or what’s going to happen to him.”

“Hey,” Hunk said softly, reaching a hand over and squeezing Keith’s shoulder comfortingly. “Hey, it’s not your fault, Iverson was an idiot to even suggest that.”

“How do you know that? You don’t even know me! Only as Lance’s partner, which I failed at.”

“Oh, I know more about you than you think.” Hunk’s eyes twinkled, and Keith stared at him, not convinced. “Lance never shuts up about you, you know. ‘Keith is more dedicated to his work than over half the agents I know!’ ‘Keith is one of the best agents I’ve worked with!’ ‘Keith knows what he’s doing, and I hate that everyone just writes him off!’ Those are things Lance has said.”

Keith was speechless. He knew Lance respected him, but he always thought that was only a product of their forced partnership, not because of who he was or how he worked. When Lance had told him he had been lying, Keith had assumed all of it had been a lie as well, but he was beginning to see how wrong he was. 

“Iverson was the last person Lance talked to besides myself. I don’t trust him.” Keith found himself saying, keeping his eyes fixed on the road ahead of him. 

Hunk hummed in thought, but didn’t say anything, only speaking up to ask where they were heading now. Keith spoke vaguely, not comfortable revealing the location so freely. Hunk took his answer thankfully, and Keith pulled out onto the empty road again. They didn’t speak again until Keith pulled up to the Holts’ house, and Hunk gulped looking at the completely dark house. Keith admitted it did look ominous, but all he saw was the time when Pidge and him used to chase each other around the yard with their toy spaceships. 

Keith gave Hunk an encouraging smile and led him to the back door, where he tapped out the tune. They were quickly pulled inside, Hunk practically glued to Keith’s side as they walked to the basement, his eyes flicking to and fro, eventually settling on the small figure of Pidge before them. They entered the basement, the sudden light assaulting their eyes, and as they sidled up to the table at the center of the room, Matt greeted them with a tired ‘hello,’ glancing at Hunk with a question in his eyes. Pidge had hopped up onto a stool beside their table, the same question in her eyes, but before anybody could say anything Keith spoke up.

“This is Agent Hunk Garrett, Lance’s roommate and best friend. He brought us what could be a crucial piece of evidence on what happened to Lance.” 

“What is it with you bringing these agents to our top secret lab? Are we going to have to have an intervention?”

He ignored Pidge and turned to Hunk. “These are my partners, Pidge, or Katie, Holt and-”

“Agent Matthew Holt.” Hunk interrupted. “Agent Takashi Shirogane’s partner, who went missing not long after the Kerberos case.” Hunk was staring at Matt in awe, and Matt was beaming at the attention. “I’ve read all your work and case notes, your unusual methods of investigation are truly inspiring. Not to mention your advancements in the department’s technological work with your father.”

“Oh-ho, hear that Pidge? I’m inspiring.” Matt perked up, sending a smug grin towards his sister.

“You’re living in our parent’s basement, Matt, how inspiring can you be,” Pidge grumbled, polishing her glasses.

Keith ignored their antics and turned to Hunk, expression serious. “We have a lot of secrets that need to be protected, so we must know for certain that we can trust you. You can’t tell anyone about Matt, or Pidge for that matter, and absolutely no talking about our investigation into Lance’s disappearance.”

“You’ll learn things about the Bureau that you may not want to. What we’re doing is dangerous and the consequences could be devastating if we’re found out. But if we’re not,and we find what we’re looking for, it could be life changing,” Matt spoke up, a manic smile stretching his lips at the end. 

Hunk peered at everyone in the room, eyebrows furrowed and hand nervously clutching Lance’s phone. Keith wasn’t sure Hunk would have taken all this seriously if Matt had not been present. But Hunk took a deep breath and then let it out.

“You’re going to help me get Lance back?” All three of them nodded without hesitation. “Then that’s all I care about. You can trust me.” Hunk’s expression solidified into one of determination and Keith couldn’t help the quirk to his lips. Here was Hunk, putting his job and possibly his life on the line for his best friend.

“Good. Glad that’s settled,” Pidge said, immediately moving on. “So, what have you brought us Hunk?” Hunk held out the phone and Pidge’s eyes lit up. “Perfect! Hopefully Lance was smart enough to leave a message on this! If not, we could compare the element levels it picked up to the levels my sensors picked up. Quick thinking, big guy!”

She started pulling out papers, spreading them out across the table top, numerous graphs and numbers on them. “This is all the information my sensors in your place picked up around the time of the attack, which we based off the time Keith received the phone call.”

“Wait, you bugged our house?” Hunk interrupted, voicing Keith’s thoughts as well. Pidge hadn’t mentioned anything about that to him.

“Yes I did. You can never be too careful, especially when you work as closely with the government as you guys do,” Pidge said proudly. “So, when Lance started showing those bizarre symptoms from the element we discovered- the same one Lance had you update his phone to detect- I decorated your house in equipment to study his exposure to the mysterious element.”

“Okay, hold up. Are you talking about his-eyes-glowing-blue kind of symptoms? Cause that totally happened one night.” Everyone’s eyebrows rose at Hunk’s statement. The silence was interrupted by the scrape of a pencil as Pidge rushed to jot that down. 

“That’s a new development, but yeah, that’s the one. Any other odd occurrences in his behavior or appearance?”

Hunk shook his head, phone still clutched tightly in his hands. Pidge noticed it then too, and hopped up.

“I’ll have Matt start collecting what we can from the phone.” She gently took the phone from Hunk, passing it across the table. “I am so glad Keith brought you! You’re more useful than he he is.”

Keith squawked indignantly. “Well, then I guess you don’t need these samples I managed to snag,” Keith responded defiantly, emptying his pockets of the bloody handkerchief, hair sample, and soil sample. Pidge pounced on them, eyes comically magnified behind her circular glasses. A wide smile stretched across her face.

“Kogane, if you have brought me alien blood I will marry you.”

“Um, I’m hella gay, but okay.” Keith shrugged, moving to sit beside Matt.

“Wait, alien blood?!” Hunk interrupted, rushing over to the table to peer at the handkerchief. “Why would you think this is alien blood? Do you think Lance was abducted by aliens, ‘cause they totally don’t exist, right?” Hunk glanced up all their amused expressions. “Right?”

“I think it would be beneficial to bring Hunk up to speed,” Matt spoke up, eyes twinkling with amusement as he gazed at Hunk. 

  
  


Everything was fuzzy and dark, his thoughts slipping between his fingers every time he tried to remember. Lance wasn’t sure where he was or what had happened. He felt weightless in this darkness but also claustrophobic, an uneasy pressure pressing in on all sides, like he was sinking to the depths of the ocean. He was too deep to make it to the surface in time for air and he felt himself panic. He began reaching out frantically, but in the darkness he couldn’t tell if that had any effect. 

Then, a pulsing blue light pierced the black, spiraling towards him, and Lance automatically reached out for it, his mind telling him he recognized it, that this was familiar, and as it wrapped around him he sighed at the calm that washed over him. His panic disappeared and the pressure was no longer suffocating. He closed his eyes in contentment, the blue light completely surrounding him now, chasing away the darkness and he felt the heaviness in his head lift. His thoughts were still distant, dizzying when Lance tried to reach out for them, like when he had tried on his mother’s reading glasses but found they only made the world tilt, but he no longer felt alone. 

Since the blue light was the only thing responding to him he reached out to it, and found it reached back. He felt a mental connection then suddenly his mind was filled with flashing images and emotions that were gone before he could make sense of them. He gasped at the overwhelming sensation and the blue presence backed off with an apologetic rumble. 

_ Let’s take it slow _ , Lance sent their way, hoping they’d understand. 

It seems they did because the only image he received next was that of the Blue Lion Keith and him had found in the dessert. The presence tightened its hold on Lance and sent a protective growl his way. Oh, so that’s who he was talking to. The Blue Lion was connected to him this whole time. A purr of confirmation rumbled through Lance, and he couldn’t help but smile at this space cat. 

An image of Keith flashed into his mind, and Lance’s breath caught. Keith didn’t want anything to do with Lance anymore, not after he had lied to him. Blue growled in his mind, sending him another flash- it was like she was retrieving his own memories for him- this time depicting a cracked phone laying before him. Lance paused, waiting for his mind to catch up, frustrated at how sluggish it felt. Then, yes! Lance remembered now. He had called Keith when he was in trouble and Keith had answered. So, maybe Lance could still salvage their friendship.

Lance’s mind was directed next to this trouble he was in, and an uneasy feeling settled back in his chest. A flash of purple fur, sharp claws, and an unforgiving smile made him flinch, Blue pressing apologetically at his side. He shot her a weak smile mentally, knowing she was just trying to help, and was glad he could remember now. He had been attacked. By who, he couldn’t say, not because his mind couldn’t remember, but because he had never seen anything of the likes before. No human had claws that sharp, nor were they covered in purple fur, and there was no animal as intelligent as what he had encountered. 

The only explanation for all of this that his mind could provide was someone had drugged him, made him see those things. Who or why though was lost on him. He was about to ask Blue when his vision suddenly clouded over with white light, making him gasp as his body began to itch and burn. His senses were overloaded once more and Blue’s presence disappeared, though it felt like she was forced away rather than disappearing at her own accord. When everything finally settled, exhaustion leaking into Lance as his body went limp, he realized two things. He was, in fact, floating in water, or some liquid that is, with his hands strung above his head, and he could actually see now. Well, _see_ was a liberal term, it was more like shapes and colors since the liquid he was submerged in distorted his view along with the curved glass containing him. He could breathe, though, and quickly realized that was because of the mask over his nose and mouth, its tube connected to the top of the tank along with numerous other wires that Lance followed to various parts of his body. 

This was like something straight out of one of his nightmares, the only thing telling him this was real was the figure standing before him now, a splotch of purple, the same sick grin cutting through its features that Lance remembered. One claw raised and tapped on the glass like Lance was some animal in a zoo, and Lance’s temper flared. No one would treat him like that, so he began to struggled, twisting his limbs in an attempt to get free, but it only seemed to amuse the figure.

Then another figure joined the purple one, though it didn’t seem to pay Lance the same attention. They were mostly a gray smudge, but something shiny caught Lance’s attention and a cold numbness washed over him when he realized what it was. An FBI badge catching the light, and not just any badge, but one someone from the Bureau would have. Lance’s heart sunk, betrayal and despair clashing inside of him. The Bureau had betrayed him? But why? They must have found out he was lying to them. That was the only explanation. But why get rid of him this way? Who, or rather what, was this purple figure? It was all too much, too many emotions and too many thoughts. Darkness began to creep in from his peripheral, and Lance’s last thought before it consumed him was,  _ I hope Keith is safe _ .

  
  


“Wait, hold up. Your technology can do what now? And you’ve been using it for  _ what  _ up until this moment?” 

“Collecting evidence of the existence of life outside our planet, or if you prefer simpler terms, aliens,” Pidge casually explained.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got that part. As well as the giant cat spaceship that’s somehow connected to Lance. I’m just trying to wrap my head around it,” Hunk assured, head falling into his hands on the table. 

Keith knew it was a lot to take in, especially for someone who was just now being exposed to it all. At least Lance had been gradually introduced, but they’d just dunked Hunk into it, no time to get used to the water, and he was taking it all remarkably calmly. 

“So, let’s just say that all of this is true,” Hunk started carefully. “Then what does all this- he motioned to the piles of data spread out across the table- mean for Lance exactly?”

Pidge adjusted her glasses, expression remarkably patient for someone who’s been awake for roughly two days straight. Matt was dozing beside Keith, face buried in his folded arms and the occasional snore the only evidence he was still alive. Keith wasn’t far behind him, eyes burning in their efforts to remain open; not even coffee could help him at this point. The only thing that kept him holding on was the burning desire to find Lance. 

“Well, we can assume Lance was the target, but we can’t be certain on the motive. In his line of work, there is a lot of room for petty feelings, such as revenge.” Hunk nodded, familiar with this notion, as everyone in their work was. “However, I don’t think that’s what we’re looking at this time. Based on these blurry pictures we managed to recover from the phone as well as the blood samples Keith collected, that we are assuming are connected, which is really quite incredible when we stop to think about it. That blood behaves in a way I’ve-”

“Pidge,” Keith barked, though not unkindly. He knew she was excited to have found the strange blood, it’s properties unlike human blood in more ways than one, but they had to focus on Lance right now. 

“Sorry, I just can’t believe you actually brought me alien blood, Kogane! Too bad we couldn’t get anything from that hair sample.” 

“So, what does the alien want with Lance?” Hunk asked, reorienting Pidge on the right track, though his face pinched when he said ‘alien.’ Seems he’s going to need a little more time to acclimate to that idea, though no one blames him. 

“Again, we can’t know for sure, but I have a hunch it has to do with this energy connected to Lance. I mean, there’s not much else Lance could offer to them. They wouldn’t take him if he were useless.” Hunk’s frown deepened and Pidge, seeming to realize her words, at least looked apologetic.

“I mean, speaking from a purely alien perspective, I haven’t known Lance for long, but there must be some reason Keith has kept him around.” Hunk’s face softened and he nodded to himself, then once more as if reassuring himself of something. 

“Okay, so how are we going to find Lance?” 

Pidge smiled- it looked only mildly maniacal on her face- and turned back to the table, searching for a specific piece of data on the table, and snatching up a paper with a graph printed on it. 

“These are the levels of that element in Lance’s system, right? Well, when Keith and Lance were interviewing the people previously affected by exposure to said element, they found it leaves a residue behind, temporarily, but still detectable.” Her eyes gleamed and Hunk, catching on to what she was saying, matched that gleam.

“Then we could track him, or this energy trail, that was left behind!”

“Exactly! Now we just need to build a device strong enough to scan large distances,” Pidge muttered, tapping her chin as her thoughts raced inside her head. A tap on her shoulder had her looking up to a shy, but confident-looking Hunk.

“I think I know just what to do.” Pidge smiled wide and followed his lead, clearing the table to make room for their next project.

At some point, Keith must have fallen asleep because the last thing he remembers was Pidge gathering all her equipment and spare parts on the table before both she and Hunk started bouncing ideas of each other, using words that Keith was familiar with, but didn’t understand, which was probably what had pushed his exhausted brain into slumber. But now, as he was shaken awake by Hunk, he saw a fully realized piece of equipment sitting before him on the table. Despite the obvious bags under their eyes, Hunk and Pidge were smiling brighter than they have in the last 24 hours. Keith felt the corners of his own mouth lift, even though he wasn’t sure why exactly. 

“Uh, so what’s this Frankenstein of a machine do?” He yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Oh, it’s brilliant, Keith!” Keith turned and saw Matt excitedly hovering over the machine. “Hunk is a genius! He simply took mine and Pidge’s scanner and combined it with the technology he used to upgrade Lance’s phone to detect the element we discovered and linked it with our personal satellite- I mean, why didn’t we think of that because now we can collect all the data of the numerous scanners we have placed in the surrounding area in one place, allowing us to scan larger distances.” All of that was said rapid fire, and all Keith’s brain could think was ‘ _ of course they have a personal satellite _ .’ 

So, he just said, “Cool.” Pidge snorted, then patted the equipment.

“This thing will be able to detect Lance in half the time by eliminating the work of collecting and combining the data of our sensors by hand. Glad we never picked those sensors up, Matt. Seems they’re finally useful after not helping much on the Kerberos case.”

“So, have you tried it yet?” Keith said eagerly.

“Ah, no, we just finished it actually.”

“So, let’s get this thing started, shall we?” Matt smirked, and everyone matched him. The anticipation and nervous energy palpable in the room. 

This was their best shot at finding Lance, who could literally be anywhere. And while the blurry photos and blood sample of Lance’s captor were remarkable, they didn’t tell them how to find Lance, not like this device could. And all of that suddenly felt much heavier when Hunk reached out to turn the device on. They watched with bated breath as it whirred to life, it’s screen blinking to life, looking much like a sonar one would see in a submarine, and they all held their breath while it collected the necessary data. Pidge said it would take a while to compile such a large amount of data, and with each blip that was emitted as it scanned the tension rose to a suffocating amount. Until finally, it started displaying results.

Pidge and Hunk gasped and moved closer to inspect the readings, which were still coming in, while Matt and Keith peered at what they could between the two bodies. Eventually, the two stepped back to include Matt and Keith, though Keith admitted he wasn’t exactly sure what he was looking at. Luckily, Pidge began to explain.

“So, what we’re looking at is a crude map of the area. These clusters of blue are the energy we’re tracking, and the larger the cluster the more concentrated the energy is in that area.” She reached forward and tapped a particularly large cluster, though not the largest Keith noticed. “Here is where that ring and the Blue Lion is. And here is where Kerberos occured.” She moved on to a less prominent cluster, though Keith was just surprised the area still registered after such time has passed. 

Though that helped Keith get his bearings, and he was quickly scanning the other areas, surprised by how many readings of the energy there were. Anyone of them could be Lance since they weren’t sure how he read in the scale of things. They didn’t have the time to check every location, and Keith didn’t want to risk choosing one randomly and hoping Lance would be there.

“Okay, so what’s this?” Keith drew everyone’s attention to the largest cluster on the screen, more than twice the size of the cluster representing the Blue Lion.

Pidge’s eyebrows furrowed. “I have no idea, but those readings are crazy.”

“Could that be where Lance is?” Hunk asked hopefully.

“It’s a possibility, but,” Matt squinted at the screen. “We can’t just run in there blind. Something there has to be generating that much power, and can we take that risk without knowing for certain if Lance is there?” Matt shook his head, leaving the answer to that question unsaid but understood. No, they can’t. 

“At least we have areas of focus, so we can scout them and see if we find evidence of Lance in those areas,” Pidge said with determination.

“How long is that going to take though? How much time does Lance have? We don’t even know if- if-” Hunk couldn’t finish the question, but everyone understood him anyway.

Keith fell back in his chair, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips and he let his eyes wander across the table, taking in all the work they’ve done, a testament to how far they’ve come in 24 hours. But it wasn't enough. They were so close, so close and...they couldn’t stop now, there must be something-

Keith’s eyes landed on the one item that had been brushed away in their scramble to collect as much evidence as they could. The soil sample he had collected, and he couldn’t contain the smile that broke out on his face. He couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled out of his throat either. Everyone turned and stared at him like he was crazy, so he stood and held up the bag of soil, eyes glinting.

“This will tell us where to look.” Everyone blinked blankly at him, so he continued. “I collected this sample from the base of Lance’s window, where the intruder entered. So, this soil is from the bottom of their shoes, and-”

“It’s components could tell us where they’ve been thus hinting at where he may have taken Lance! Of course!” Pidge finished for him, smile growing at each word and rushing forward to snatch the bag from Keith’s hands.

Matt followed at her heels, already spouting off what he knew about the soil composition in the surrounding area and Keith was left with Hunk, who was smiling softly at him. 

“What?” Keith said, not unkindly.

Hunk settled on the stool beside him before speaking. “I only ever knew how you worked through Lance’s point of view, and you can’t blame for thinking Lance was exaggerating, he has a taste for embellishment, but now that I’m seeing you through my own eyes, I can’t help but see...” Hunk trailed off, eyes searching Keith’s face.

“Why I’m called Kooky Kogane? Why that’s all I’ll ever be?” Keith couldn’t help but go down the self-deprecation road, especially in the presence of Lance’s best friend, who has been working so hard to get him back when it was Keith’s fault that he’s missing in the first place. 

“Keith, whoever called you that had a seriously narrow view of you and your work,” Hunk said, voice firmer than Keith’s ever heard it and he glanced up at Hunk in surprise. Hunk just placed a hand on his shoulder and continued. “I see now that Lance didn’t embellish anything he said about you. You are hard working and diligent, and you don’t give up easily, as you’re proving now. You may have been shoved in the FBI's basement, but that is only because you are not afraid to question everything before you, and if what you say is true, that the Bureau is hiding something, then it makes sense why they’re afraid of you.” Keith’s eyes widened at Hunk’s words, not expecting them from a man he only just formally met last night. “I couldn’t have wanted a better partner for Lance, and I’m glad he met you. He really trusts you, and so do I.” At that, Keith’s throat closed, and he ducked his head. No one has ever said anything of the likes to him before, no one’s acknowledged his skills before, except maybe Shiro, and it’s overwhelming to hear it again.

“T-thanks, Hunk.” He cleared his throat. “That means a lot. And I’m going to get Lance back, we’re going to get him back, together.”

Hunk smiled at that and slapped him on the back. “Of course we are. No one can stop us now.”

It didn’t take much longer to get the results from the soil and just as Keith suspected it helped them narrow their search area. Matt and Pidge quickly found the surrounding areas whose soil composition matched that of the soil Keith had collected, and once again their attention was directed towards the largest cluster on the scan.

“Well, guess we have our evidence to make a case towards Lance being there,” Pidge said. “But what exactly could be producing that much energy and how are we going to get in, because I can assure that energy is not unprotected.”

“Last time I checked, it was an abandoned warehouse on that property, but I haven’t been back in a long while,” Matt added.

“Are you saying that the the FBI is aware of it?” Hunk interrupted, looking concerned.

“I don’t know about that, but whoever took Lance is certainly aware of it.”

“Hunk brought up a good point, though,” Matt said. “We should check for FBI involvement when we go in as well, this could be what they’re trying to hide.”

“Matt, I think you should stay behind,” Keith spoke up suddenly, crossing his arms and not meeting anyone’s eyes.

“What? Why? There’s no way I’m going to let you guys go to this place alone!”

“Yeah, but if the FBI is involved, then that puts you in danger, or did you forget you’re still wanted?”

“That’s exactly why I’m going, Keith. This could unlock something we were missing with the Kerberos case, something connected to Shiro’s disappearance, which, in case you forgot, isn’t unlike Lance’s!”

Keith sighed through his nose. Matt had a point, and if the roles were reversed, he would be arguing just like Matt was, but he still didn’t like it. But ultimately, it wasn’t his decision to make. He turned towards Pidge, who had fallen silent at the argument.

“Pidge, what do you have to say? He’s your brother, he’ll listen to you.”

Pidge glanced hesitantly between them, unsure where she was usually confident. “I don’t like the fact that Matt’s cover could be blown, but we need all the help we can get and Matt’s right, this could lead to something bigger, so we have to take that risk.”

Keith nodded as did Matt.

“Last question,” Matt spoke up. “How exactly are we going to get into this place undetected?”

Keith cleared his throat. “I don’t know about undetected, but I do have an idea as to how we’re going to get in there,” he smirked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the last chapter was really fast paced, so I hope this one held up! Let me know if anything is confusing or doesn't make sense, and I'll be sure to fix it! The Lance part of this chapter felt kinda weak but I wanted to give you guys an idea as to where he was. Next chapter they find exactly out exactly what they're dealing with as well as a certain pair of aliens *cough* Allura and Coran (my man) *cough*!   
> I'm always happy to hear from you guys, makes my day, so don't be shy; I use comments for motivation! It's all love here, and until next time be kind and stay safe!


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